
Class __„ /aj i O 

Book ^ ^ / 

^40 . 



/ 



^^ , - 



THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 



i^n^ 



THE 



CHRIST OF HISTOEY 



AN ARGUMENT GROUNDED IN THE FACTS OP 
HIS LIFE ON EARTH. 



BY 



JOHN YOUNG, LL.D 

EDINBURGH. 



o^^^^^pr^-- -r^,s: - - -- 




NEW YORK: 



ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
No. 530 BROADWAY. 

1860. 



/'■ 




BfEREOTTPBD BT 
THOMAS B. SMITH, 

82 & 84 Beekman Street 



B. o. jmncras, 

PEINTEE, 

22 & 24 Frankfort St 



:^T 



-a 



\ o 



.^1 



ADVERTISEMENT 



AMERICAN EDITION 



The following able analysis of this work is from a review of it in 
the columns of " The London Morning Advertiser," of June 1, 
1855 :— 

" This work belongs to the highest class of the productions of modem 
disciplined genius. The author modestly intimates only the simple 
truth when, in the preface, he states that tAe construction, if not the 
idea, of his high argument, is new to the world. Its materials are 
obtained by a wise and severe application of the inductive method 
of discovering truth, to those general portions of the evangelic nar- 
ratives, which are readily acknowledged to be undoubtedly historical 
by the most profound and frank skeptics. 

" The author consents, for the sake of argument, to leave out of 
view all that is miraculous. He gathers together some of the facts, 
with their teachings, which present to men the manhood of Jesus, 
and endeavors to prove that such a manhood, under the particular 
outer conditions, can only be possible by the presence and union of 
Godhead. 

" We can not, in our very limited space, do more than give a brief, 
though not unpremeditated, description of the work. We take up 
the book as seekers after truth, and our author speedily introduces 
us to ' the outer conditions of the Life of Christ.' Without perplex- 
ing us with too minute details, or with innumerable theories, Mr. 
Young leads us into the immediate presence of great historical facts. 
We pause m their presence only long enough to see and understand 
clearly the great realities themselves : and we are huiTied onward to 
the next step in his argument — ' The Work of Christ among Men.' 
This is handled somewhat more fully, as was becoming so high and 
regal a theme ; but even here he will not allow us to delay too long. 
As illustrations can at best only shadow forth the writer's own con- 
ceptions of his subject, the author indulges in but few. The spirit 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

of respectful modesty will always he that of the worthy guide and 
philosopher among such high and great sights. Mr. Young is under 
its influence, and our eye is ever fixed on the primary distinctive 
features of the separate objects before us. At length we enter upon 
what every reader must feel to bo ' holy ground.' We are invited to 
behold what our author terms ' The Spiritual Individuality of Christ,' 
and we fain hope that, among our readers, none will be found un- 
willing to bow and worship this mysterious, wonderful Personality. 

" In all the three parts of the work it is demonstrated that the only 
philosophy that can satisfy the facts of the case lies in the doctrine 
of the Incaraiation of Divinity. The Incarnation is ' the enlightening 
fact? The argument cumulates in force as we are brought nearer 
and nearer to this mysterious Being, until it finally becomes so ir- 
resistible that we anticipate the inquiring look of our guide, by the 
confession, that only the doctrine of the Incarnation of Divinity can 
harmonize the phenomena which history affirms were actually har- 
monized in the life of Jesus. A joyous smile instantly lights up the 
countenance of our guide when he adds : ' Grant the fact of the In- 
carnation of Divinity, and you grant that which demands the mir- 
aculous and divine as its necessary and natural companions. In the 
person and life of Jesus, the miraculous becomes natural and inevit- 
able. The evangelical narratives are justified, and raised above 
suspicion. The world has a Saviour.' 

" We would express our own obligations to Mr. Young for the 
help given us in perceiving the consistency and unity of the life of 
Jesus. We heartily recommend this book to all earnest thinkers, for 
such alone know the worth of a helpful book. Mr. Young has suc- 
ceeded admirably in condensing his great argument into the small 
compass of 260 pages — no insignificant achievement in this age of 
ours. There are many minor matters we wish corrected ; but these 
sink into nothingness by the side of the feeling, of which we are 
conscious while studying this volume : that this method, by its 
severe simphcity and directness, excites within us feelings of devo- 
tion and adoration. We may describe the book as one of the best 
works, in modem English, for introducing us t') the knowledge and 
life of Jesus." 



PREFACE. 

This book appeals to those wlio are prepared 
to treat, if with severe, yet also with dispassion- 
ate criticism, one of the gravest subjects of hu- 
man inquiry. It is not formally controversial, 
but it is virtually so, and is offered as a humble 
contribution in aid of other more elaborate ef- 
forts to correct and repel an indiscriminating in- 
fidelity. 

The argument, in its idea, certainly in its con- 
struction, differs materially from those by which 
the truth it would establish has usually been 
supported. It is also purposely cumulative, and 
— ^if the conception be just and the execution 
answer at aU to the conception — it must increase 
in force with the successive steps, and will be 
the weightiest at the close. 

A profound mystery is here commended to 



VUl P R E F A C IC . 

the judgment and conscience of honest and 
thoughtful men, but a mystery which is full of 
glory and light and life. There is One Won- 
derful Personality, only One, of all that ever 
dwelt on this earth, who had more immediate, 
constant and perfect access to the Infinite Fount- 
ain of Being, than was possible to the constitution 
of a mere creature. 

JjHTS^DOSj 2'7th March, 186& 



ANALYSl 




INTEODUOTIO^^ 



0Biia^ Form of the Argument. — Another Species of Proof. — 
Earthly Life of Jesus, not sufBciently investigated. — His Hu- 
manity alone, assumed here. — Inspiration, not essential in this 
Argument. — General historical Validity of the Gospels as- 
sumed. — The Life they record, not mythical, but real. — " Be- 
hold the Man" 19 



BOOK FIEST. 

THE OUTER CONDITIONS OF THE LIFE OP CHRIST. 

PART I. 

HIS SOCIAL POSITION. 

His Mother, her views respecting Him, and their Origin. — ^The 
Lifluence of these on Him. — Nothing else in the early Life 
of Jesus, favorable to his subsequent Elevation. — His Pover- 
ty, Hindrances in this to His Ministry. — " The Carpenter." — 
His want of Formal Education, and of Patronage . 

PART n. 

THE SHORTNESS OP HIS EARTHLY COURSE. 

Duration of His Ministry.— His Death.— Earthly Causes of it. — 
Intolerance of the World, and His own unconquerable Will. — 



: ANALYSIS. 

PAoa 

Shortness of His Life in Eelation to the Form of His "Work. — 
In Eelation to His Influence on succeeding Ages . . • _41 



PART ni. 

THE AGE AND PLACE IN WHICH HE APPEARED. 

Moral Condition of the Age. — Gentile World. — Judea. — Gali- 
lee. — Nazareth. 

Mythical Theory.— Irreconcilable "vnth the outer Conditions of 
Christ's Life.— These, undouhted Facts.— Not Myths. — Not 
founded on Messianic ideas, , , .60 



BOOK SECOKD. 

THE WOEK OF CHEIST AMONG MEN. 
PART I. 

HIS OWN IDEA OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE. 

His Puhlic Position, an Act of His own Will. — ^His Claim to Mes- 
eiahship. — His Idea of Messiahship. — Not Temporal hut Spir- 
itual.— Not National hut Universal.— Jesus, in this Eespect, 
alone in His Age, His Country, the World . . . .67 

PART n. 

THE C^OMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTRY. 

Dealt -with the Age and the Country, collectkiely. — Their charac- 
ter.— Christ the Incarnate Conscience of both. — He, not con- 
scious of personal Gmlt —Began by rebuking, in order \ :> re- 
form Iflie Nation ... ...... 67 



ANALYSIS. XI 

PART ni. 

THE MARKEtJ CHARACTER OF HIS PUBLIC APPEARANCES. 

PAGB 

L Severity. — Moral Condition of Palestine. — Scenes of His early 
Ministry. — Scribes and Pharisees. — Formalism, Hypocrisy. 
II. Tenderness. — Instances and Source. III. Simplicity. — 
General character of His Life. — Eelation of His Teaching 
to Times, Places, I'ersons. — His Words and Illustrations. 
IV. Authority. — Testimony of His Hearers. — Claim to Con- 
nection with God 77 

PART IV. 

HIS TEACHING. 
CHAPTER L 

fRELIMINART, GENERAL VIEWS. 

Record of Christ's Teaching.— No formal Account of it pre- 
pared. — Mind of Christ, sole Fountain of the Truths an- 
nounced in the Gospels. — Summary of His Teaching. — A 
universal spiritual reign of God on Earth. — " Kingdom of 
Heaven," etc., etc., etc 91 

CHAPTER n. 

THE SOUL. 
8EOTI0N I. — EEALrrY AND GREATNESS OF THE SOUL. 

Ignorance of Matter and Spirit. — Idea of the Soul Intuitional. — 
Universal Indifference to the Soul. — Jesus reveals it. — Ko for- 
mal proof of it. — His Teaching based on it. — Origin of the Soul. 
— Attributes. — Gospels teach its unutterable Worth. — ^Deter- 
mines Man's Place in the Scale of Being 104 

SECTION II. — THE soul's ACCOUNT ABILrTY AND IMMOETALITY. 

Accountability belongs to the Kational and Moral Nature. — Ac- 
tivity, Unconscious, Instinctive, Intelligent, and Voluntary. — 



XU ANALYSIS. 

PAOB 

Groujd ot Kesponsibility.— The Doctrine in Christ's Teach- 
ing. — Last Judgment. — Immateriality and Inmaortality. — Mor- 
al Conditions of Life. — Perdition of the Soul. — Sin and Death. 
— ^Element of Eternal Life.—" Life and Immortality brought 
to light by the Gospel." 112 

CHAPTER IIL 



SBcnoN I. — god's spnuTUALiTT, ujsrrry, and moral pebfection. 

Foundation of all Eeligion. — ^Being of God assumed in the Gos- 
pels. — An original Intuition. — ^Proof in our Nature of Divine 
Spirituality. — Angelic Souls. — Spirituality includes Life and 
Intelligence. — Vegetable, Animal, Intellectual, Moral Life. — 
The original parental Life. — Infinite Intelligence. — Christ at 
Jacob's Well. — One Infinite, accounts for existing Phenome- 
na. — More than One, contradictory. — Dualism. — ^Polytheism. 
— A Supreme among the Gods. — Christ proclaiming Unity. — 
Heathen Sentiments and Presentiments. — Gods of Paganism, 
their Character. — Jewish Misrepresentations. — The God of 
Christ, perfect Excellence 121 

SECTION II. — god's PATEBNITT. 

Type in Men, Eeahty in God. — Childship of all Souls. — In Soul 
alone, a Likeness to God. — Authority in God. — Love. — Great 
Family of God. — Introduction of Moral Evil. — Fatherhood of 
God in the Teaching of Jesus. — Parental Love, the moving 
Power of the Universe, 135 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE RECONCILIATION OF THE SOUL AND GOD. 

Departure from God, Root and Essence of Evil. — ^Ever-widen- 
ing. — Retributive Character. — Ruin of Spiritual Nature. — 
Union and Separation of Minds. — End of Christ's Mediation, 
of His Death, and of His Life in Reconciliation, . . 144 



ANALYSIS. xm 

PART V. 

THE ARGUMENT FROM HIS WORK TO HIS DinNITT. 

PAGH 
Human Systems of Eeligious Truth. — Mohammedanism. — Hin- 
dooism and Buddhism. — Talmudism.— Ancient Jewish Scrip- 
tures. — Stoicism, earlier and later. — Errors and Excellences. 
— Socraticism or Platonism. — Philo-Judaas. — Life of Socrates. 
— ^His Death. — His Faith and Hopes. — Christian Views of them 
and him. — Christianity contrasted with Teaching of Socrates. 
—Solution, Christ's true Divinity 153 



BOOK THIED. 

THE SPIEITHAL INDIVIDUALITY OF CHEIST. 
PART I. 

HIS ONENESS WITH GOD. 

Communion between the created and the uncreated Mind. — Hu- 
man Side of the Doctrine. — Effort to conceive of God. — Faith in 
His Nearness tons. — In His Love. — Sense of Dependence. — 
Veneration. — Trust. — God listening and responding to the 
Soul. — To Christ, God the greatest Eeality. — Christ alone with 
God. — Habitual, original Union. — Walked with God . . 191 

PART ir. 

THE FORMS OF HIS CONSCIOUSNESS, 

Nature of Consciousness. — Its Universality. — ^Value of its Testi- 
mony. — Christ's Consciousness. — Its Highest Development.— 
Expressed to the Last.— -Interpietation of it.— Proof of Valid- 
ity of his Claims. 203 



XIV ANAYLSIS. 



PAET m. 



THE TOTALITY OF HIS MANIFESTATION BEFORE THE WORLD. 

PAOB 

True Mail. — Peculiar Susceptibility. — Sufferings and. Provoca- 
tions. — Unconquerable Patience. — Absolute spiritual Perfec- 
tion. — Simplicity and Fresbness. — Uniform Perfection. — Jesus 
a Manifestation, not an effort -A pure Original, not an Imi- 
tation. — Alone in History 216 



PART lY. 

THE MOTIVE OF HIS LIFE. 

Absence of Selfisbness. — ^Presence of pure and lofty Motives. — 
His active Goodness. — ^Views of tbe Soul. — Love of Man^ as 
Man. — Gave His Life, a Sacrifice 235 

PART V. 

HIS FAITH IN GOD, TRUTH AND THE REDEMPTION OF MAN. 

Foreknowledge of His deatb. — ^His Solitariness. — Never disap- 
pointed. — Trutb a Provision fo tbe Wants, Cuj-e for tbe Evils 
of tbe World. — Attributes of God. — Expressions and Proofs 
of Cbrist's Assurance. — Institution of tbe Supper. — Interpre- 
tation of tbese Facts . 242 

PART VI. 

THE ARGUMENT FROM HIS SPIRITUAL CHARACTER TO HIS 
DIVINITY. 

Moral Aspects and outward Facts of Cbrist's History. — A Cbar- 
acter sucb as His, not once realized. — Interests of Trutb and 
Virtue. — Moral Condition of Mankind, cbarged upon God. — 
Humanity in Cbrist peculiarly conditioned. — Idea of Incarna- 
tion universal. — A Primitive Eevelation. — A universal Want.— 



ANALYSIS. XV 

PASB 

Provision for this "W ant made once for all — Higher nature in 
Christ, not higher office merely. — His absolute Divinity. — This 
secured Aids and Influences, incommunicable to others . . 243 



CONCLUSIOK 

Incarnation of Jesus sheds Light on all the Wonders of His His- 
tory. — Supernatural Birth. — Eesurrection and Ascension. — 
Miracles of His Life. — Spiritual Meaning. — Typical Charac- 
ter. — Sophistry of Strauss. — Extraordinary Tokens of Divinity 
Demanded. — ^Voice of God. — The World summoaed to hear 
and believe .......*... 253 



\ 



THE 



CHRIST OF HISTORY, 



IN THREE BOOKS, 



Book I The outer Conditions op the Life op Christ. 
11. The Work op Christ among Men. 
IIL The Spiritual Individuality op Christ. 



INTRODUCTION 

CTsual form of the argument. — ^Another species of proof. — Earthly 
life of Jesus not sufficiently investigated. — His humanity alone as- 
sumed here. — Inspiration not essential in this argument. — 
General historical validity of the Grospels assumed. — The lifo 
they record not mythical, but real. — "Behold the Man." 

A CHANGE in the form of the argument for the 
proper deity of Jesns Christ seems to be demanded 
in our day. Accepted and familiar proofs may not 
have lost their strength, but they have lost their 
freshness, and they are wanting in adaptation to 
the peculiar intellectual culture and structure of 
the present age. Sacred criticism, directed to the 
historical, prophetical, and devotional books of the 
Old Testament, and to the Gospels and Epistles of 
the New Testament, has long submitted its methods 
and their results to the judgment of the world. 
Dogmatic theology, also, connecting itself closely 
with the reigning logic and metaphysics, has long 
announced its expositions of sacred truth. Argu 
ments on this subject have been accumulated in as 
tonishing number, and have long maintained aik 
acknowledged prescriptive authority. But it is 



20 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

conceivable that an excess of resources may prove, 
in certain cases, hardly less fatal than a palpable 
deficiency. Men are provoked to resist that which, 
instead of asking favor, commands and compels 
submission. It is sometimes wise to take not the 
very highest ground which it is po&sible to maintain, 
but the lowest ; and if, on this lowest ground, we 
can succeed in producing an unlooked-for amount 
of materials, the feeling of surprise concilia,tes the 
heart, and assists, instead of obstructing, the men- 
tal process which issues in conviction. Perhaps the 
earthly life of Jesus, apart from subtle criticism and 
jfrom systematic, metaphysical theology, may be 
found to offer original and extraordinary evidences 
of His divinity ; evidences which, by their number, 
their harmony^ and their force, shall amount to 
positive proof of this great mystery. This region, 
owing to the productiveness of others better known, 
has never been cultivated with the pains which it 
deserves. But the peculiar kind of proof, never- 
theless, which it yields, we presume to think is at 
once the most intelligible and the most convincing 
which on such a subject can be offered to reason 
and conscience. 

A temperate and conciliatory spirit is demanded 
toward those to whom we present the claims of 
religion ; and the exhibition of such a spirit can not 
injure or endanger Christianity. With perfect 
safety we may forego, for the time, the inheritance 



FORM OF THE ARGUMENT. M 

of evidence and of argument bequeathed from tlie 
past, bj th.e researclies and tlie erudition of enlight- 
ened men. Demanding nothing more than the 
simple humanity of Jesus of Kazareth, we shall 
venture from this platform to assert and expound 
his true divinity. Dismissing all preconceptions, 
however fondly cherished, and however long 
adopted into the faith of the churches, assuming 
nothing which is not virtually and even formally 
admitted by enemies as well as friends we hope to 
show that the manhood of Christ, as it appealed to 
the senses and the minds of the men of his own 
times, supplies and sustains the proof of his god- 
hood.^ 

A still larger sacrifice, in the same spirit of con- 
ciliation, will be found compatible with safety and 
honor. The inspiration of the Christian records is 
not to be demanded here. No collection of writ- 
ings has passed through a fiercer ordeal than the 
books of the New Testament. The severity of 
criticism, it may be safely said, the venomous ma- 
lignity with which they have been assailed, has no 
parallel in the history of literature, or of the re- 

* The pre-supposition (voraussetzung) with which Neander 
commences his Life of Christ is certainly fatal to it as an argument, 
although its value as an exposition of the Gospels, and a critical 
defense of their authenticity, is in no degree affected by this cir- 
cumstance. What he calls "the Christian consciousness" (das 
Christliche Bewustseyn) is not innate but acquired, the result of 
education, and therefore of no authority. — Das Leben Jesu Ghriati, 
Hamburg, 1855, Einleitoig s. 4. 



22 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

ligions of the world. The facts, the chronology, 
the references to contemporaneous history, to politi- 
cal and social interests, to science and philosophy, 
the doctrines and the ethical principles of the New 
Testament, the honesty, intelligence, and capacity 
of the writers, and the character of their produc- 
tion as a whole, have been subjected to the scru- 
tiny, often intensely prejudiced, of all nations and 
of all orders of intellect for eighteen centuries. It 
is at least grateful to think, that, owing to this very 
cause, an astonishing amount of power, otherwise 
unrevealed, has been evoked and effectively put 
forth in defense of these holy writings. But the 
inspiration of the New Testament, as that is popu- 
larly understood, shall not be insisted on in the 
present argument ; and it shall suf&ce for us, if this 
book be allowed to stand only not lower than other 
equally ancient productions. Whatever abatement 
from its historical validity can be plausibly de- 
manded on account of the remoteness of the period, 
the character of the age, or the position of . the 
writers, it shall be conceded. For the sake of ar- 
gument, though only for this, it shall be granted 
that the Evangelists were not secured against mis- 
take, and that therefore the justice of all their 
sentiments, and the accuracy of all their details, 
are not unquestionable. We go farther ; let all in 
these sacred records which belongs to the sphere of 
the miraculous be ascrbed, for the present, to the 



VALIDITY OF GOSPELS ASSUMED. 23 

habit of the Jewish mind, to the influence of their 
national history, or to the common tendency to ex- 
aggeration. We assume nothing more than this, 
that the Grospels, in a broad and general sense, are 
historical and veritable ; and this, in point of fact, 
is virtually granted by all. 

By fa"* the ablest of the modern adversaries of 
the validity of the New Testament^ who has sub- 
jected it to the most severe analysis, and has brought 
to his task the largest amount of learning and of 
philosophic power, has admitted at least a basis, 
even a broad basis, of historical truth in the Gros 
pels. He concedes that Jesus of Kazareth lived on 
earth, and that his character, saving the miraculous 
element so largely blended with the delineation of 
it, substantially was what it is represented to be by 
the Evangelists.* This admission indeed can not 
be withheld, without encountering even graver 
difficulties than are created by conceding it. The 
antiquity of the records being granted — and it is 
granted at this day by all who have seriously inves- 
tigated the subject, and who, on the ground of 
scholarship and of intellectual and moral compe- 

* " Das Leben Jesu." Even Germany now consents that this 
attempt to place the Christian Gospels in the same category with 
heathen mythologies is only an ingenious fallacy, an elaborate de- 
feat. One thing we must be permitted to mark : Strauss begins 
his criticism by aiming to create a prejudice, at all events a pre- 
judgment. Surely th's cannot be too severely reprobated ; it is 
unscientific, it is unphilosophical, it is morally wrong. 



24: THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

tency, are entitled to consideration — one or other 
of two hypotlieses is -unavoidable. Either such a 
man as Jesus of ISTazareth really appeared on earth 
about the time which the Christian records fix, or 
the writers of the Gospels gave form and life to a 
mere idea which never had an outward realization, 
and existed no where but in their minds. No third 
supposition is conceivable on any rational ground ; 
one or other of these two must be accepted ; and in 
truth there is no choice between them, for the diffi- 
culties involved in the latter are wholly insur- 
mountable. On the supposition that Jesus of 
Nazareth never actually existed, it is not within 
the range of rational belief that the idea of such a 
being was formed in that country^ that age^ and in 
the minds of such men as the Evangelists are held 
to have been, and as in point of mental endow- 
ment and culture and social rank they certainly 
were. When it shall have been fully ascertained 
what that being who is presented to us in the Gos- 
pels really was, the evidence will be irresistible that 
this is not within the range of rational belief, but 
is so unlikely and unnatural as to be morally im- 
possible. It would contradict all experience and 
all legitimate induction from experience, and be as 
utterly out of the course of human things as any 
miracle ever recorded. It is abundantly demon- 
strable, and the evidence will accumulate as the 
present investigation advances, that the Evangel 



THE LIFE NOT IDEAL. 25 

ists, instead of embodying a conception of their 
own minds, must have witnessed the life wliicli they 
describe, never could have conceived it unless thej^ 
had first witnessed it, and were able to represent it 
in the manner they have done, only because it had 
actually passed under their immediate and frequent 
observation. 

The Grospels, then, contain the history of a life 
once actually spent on this earth. The writers relate 
on the wliole what they saw and heard, and on the 
whole convey the impression v/hich was left on their 
minds by a real, living being. It is enough. This 
lowest stand-point is enough. Take only the earthly 
life of Christ, suppose only that in a broad general 
sense it is faithfully represented — behold only the 
Man— He shall indicate and demonstrate union with 
absolute Godhead. Such a Humanity as his is 
utterly inexplicable, except on the ground of true 
Divinity, 



BOOK FIRST. 

THE OUTER CONDITIONS OP THE LIEE OF CHRIST. 



IN THREE PARTS. 



Part I. His social Position, 

II. The Shortness of His earthly Course. 
in. The Age and Place in which He appeared. 



\ 



That life on wHcli it is proposed to found an 
argument for Divinity was singular in the materials 
and the mode of its formation. The outward and 
the inward aspects of every earthly course are 
mysteriously related to each other. The age, the . 
country, the physical organization, education, 
society, and the like, exert an acknowledged influ- 
ence in the intellectual and moral development of 
a human being. Native force of character may 
rise above the accidents of birth and early position 
and all the external conditions by which the soul 
is limited, so that it can never be predicted with 
certainty^ from any given circumstances, what a 
man's future life shall be, because we can never 
foresee how the action of these circumstances may 
be modified, and what jriinute and delicate influen- 
ces may either neutralize or assist their effect in the 
progress of years. But the fact of dependence 
and of moral causation, nevertheless, has almost 
the constancy and sovereignty of a universal law- 



80 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

The seeds of that definite form which each indivi- 
dual life eventually assumes will be found to lie 
within its early history. The future is never ac- 
cidental and capricious, a void filled up with ma- 
terials, gathered according to no principle and 
disposed without order or law. It is rather the 
natural product of elements which existed and 
acted in the earlier period of life. The present and 
the future stand almost in the relation of cause and 
effect. Events, influences, incidents in the one 
largely contribute to make the other what it ulti- 
mately becomes. -Usually a man's early life and 
position will be found to contain the germ and to 
furnish the true interpretation of his future charac- 
ter in history. 



PAET I. 

S SOCIAL POSITION. 

His Mother. — Her views respecting Him and their origin. — The 
influence of these on Him. — Nothing else, in the early life of 
Jesus, favorable to his subsequent elevation. — His Poverty, hin- 
derances in this to his Ministry. — " The Carpenter." — His want 
of formal education and of patronage. 

It will be proved that the common formative 
principles whicli have just been referred to utterly 
fail to explain the life of Jesus. His life^ we shall 
find, stands out a mysterious exception to all the 
ordinary laws that govern the destiny of men. 
What He ultimately became, so far from harmoniz- 
ing with his early course and his outward con- 
dition, was reached not because but in spite of all 
the inflaences descending upon him from both of 
these regions. It was not a natural result of the 
circumstances amid which he grew up, but one 
which, unless to some hidden antagonist force, 
these circumstances must have rendered absolutely 
impossible. 

We can recognize one specific agency, indeed, 
though only one, which undeniably had an effect 



82 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

in preparing Jesus in Ms earlj life for the position 
to wliicli he eventually rose. There was one per- 
son, nearer to him and dearer than any other, who 
must have exerted an influence in the formation of 
his character favorable to the peculiar development 
which it was destined to reach.. That person was 
his mother. The Yirgin Mary entertained from 
the first very exalted notions respecting her Son. 
The origin of these notions can not be unfolded 
here, because we have consented to surrender for 
the time all that is supernatural in the New Testa- 
ment records. The mystery of Christ's birth, the 
vision of the shepherds of Bethlehem, the visit of 
the Chaldean sages, the prophetic words of Simeon 
and Anna in the Temple, must therefore be left 
out of the discussion. Perhaps it will be found 
by and by, that facts of this nature beautifully 
harmonize with the calmest and soundest views 
which can be taken of the Christian writings. But 
no use must be made of them here, and they must 
not be suffered to influence either the narrative or 
the argumentative part of this investigation. 

Twelve years after the birth of Christ, an in- 
cident occurred, which is the more remarkable, be- 
cause it forms the sohtary piece of intelligence 
which is communicated to us respecting a period 
of his life, extending over nearly thirty years. On 
the occasion of the Passover, the child Jesus re- 
mained behind in Jerusalem after Mary and her 



YOUTH OF CHRIST. 3^ 

husband Josepli had left to return home, and at the 
end of three days he was found by them in the 
Temple, sitting at the feet of the teachers of the 
Law, listening to them and asking them questions. 
The circumstance, of Jesus being so long separated 
f:om his earthly guardians without their knowledge, 
is easily accounted for by the usages of the Passo- 
ver-time. Even his being found with the teachers 
of the Law is not out of harmony with the history 
and manners of the period. The Jewish historian 
relates something of this kind, which happened to 
himself when he was about fourteen years of age.* 
All which this incident can reasonably be supposed 
to convey is granted freely. It is granted also 
that the words of the child to his mother, when she 
rebuked him for tarrying behind, " Wist ye not 
that I must be on my Father's business ?" indicated 
a maturity of mind, a thirst for knowledge, a love 
of truth, a faith in the being, presence, and favor 
of God, very extraordinary. It is granted that 
these words must have sunk into the heart of Mary, 
must have renewed the impression created by the 
occurrences of his infancy and childhood, perhaps 
recalled her first views in their mysterious power, 
and revived all her early hopes. But after this in- 

^ 'Eri 6'apa, iralg uv Tzspl TeaaapeaKaiusKaTOv Irog, 6Ld, rb ■ 
^iXoypdjiiiarov vtvo navrav ETryTOV/uevo^, avvLovruv del ruv 
upXi£p£<^v KOt ruv TTjC Txo'kEiog TtpuTuv vn£p Tov reap' tfiov irepl 
Tu)v vofic/Liuv (licpLJSeaTepov ri yvuvau Vita Josephi, sec. 2, in 
Oper. Geneva, 1633. 

2* 



84 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

cident other twelve years passed by, and lialf that 
number more, and all the while not a sign of any 
kind appeared. In the long and dreary interval 
must not impressions and hopes so utterly unsup- 
ported as hers have gradually faded, and at last 
altogether perished? We can only conjecture 
what opinions Mary for herself entertained, whe- 
ther at an earlier or at a later period, respecting the 
rank and office of the Messiah ; but in all probabil- 
ity, they partook of the ignorance, and prejudice, 
and error of those of the Jews in general in that 
age. It is willingly conceded that, at the least, she 
must have believed that her Son was destined by 
God to a position of great saoredness and dignity, 
and this faith, no one can doubt, must have influ- 
enced her behavior toward him and her method of 
treating and training him. Certainly she would 
strive to impart her own views to his mind, and 
fix within him the idea of his destiny, as she her- 
self understood it. 

But tJiis^ be its value what it may, was the sol- 
itary agency in the early life of Jesus helpful to his 
subsequent elevation ; and except this, not a single 
friendly element can be discovered throughout the 
history. All else is not only not auxiliary, but 
thoroughly obstructive. When the whole of the 
conditions under which the destined development 
of his character and his life was effected shall have 
been carefully examined, it will then appear, we 



EARLY CONDITION UNFAVORABLE. S5 

presume, that that character and life were not a 
natural growth for which his circumstances, accord- 
ing to the ordinary laws of providence and of the 
human mind, sufficiently account, but, on the con- 
trary, were originated and sustained in spite of 
circumstances with which no earthly force could 
have contended, and therefore must have had theii? 
real foundation in a force which was preternatural 
and Divine. 

The New Testament makes no secret of the place 
which Jesus occupied in the social scale. The 
family from which he sprang belonged to the lower 
ranks of life ; Joseph, the husband of Mary, being 
a working carpenter. His birth-place, the wander- 
ings of his infancy, his home in such a village as 
Nazareth, his humble occupation for many years, 
his dependence afterward on the labor of his dis- 
ciples and the charity of other friends, are affecting 
evidences of the poverty of his condition through 
life. The fact is noticeable in itself, but it is pro- 
foundly interesting to those who find in his later 
manifestations a Being who irresistibly draws to- 
ward himself their veneration, their trust, and 
their hope. They believe him to be the Eedeemer 
of the world, and they are astonished that, wheri 
on earth, he was ranked with the ignoble and the. 
poor. But the fact, as they dwell upon it, becomes 
suggestive and quickening ; they see that it is 
fitted to shed marvellous peace into the bosom of 



36 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

the humblest sons of men, and to reveal a tender 
and holy bond of sympathy between Jesns of ISTa- 
zareth and them. He endured the humiliations, 
the burdens, and the straits of poverty, and is he 
not, therefore, in a touching sense the brother of 
the sorrowing and the poor ? It gives to poverty 
a singular sacredness and dignity. The principle, 
"not new in itself, acquires new impressiveness that 
social rank is not the standard of social worth, or 
of personal excellence and power. The great les- 
Is pronounced with unexampled solemnity in the 
hearing of the ivorld^ that men and things are not 
always in reality what they are in appearance. It 
is taught that justice, truth, love, and moral and 
spiritual worth, must be reverenced in whatsoever 
associations they are found. The accidents of out- 
ward condition do not alter the essential character 
of good or of evil. Poverty and ignorance, and still 
more poverty and vice, are not inseparable either 
in fact, or in the judgment of right-thinking men. 
They do often co-exist, and there are very obvious 
causes which at once explain why they should of- 
ten CO -exist. But the connection is not uniform, 
and it is not inevitable. On the other hand, great 
wealth is seldom found associated with the highest 
forms of spiritual excellence. Certainly the love 
and the high estimation of wealth, rarely separated 
from the possession of it, are utterly incompatible 



THE HINDEKANCES OF POVEETY. 37 

with elevation, expansion, and deep spirituality of 
character. 

But the prevailiug sentiment of mankind is not 
to be mistaken. Even if this sentiment were not 
hostile, it is plain, on other grounds, that a poor 
man must necessaril}^, just because he is poor, en- 
counter peculiar and numerous hinderances in form- 
ing and executing any purpose, however modest, 
for the good of his race. His knowledge of the 
world, for example, his acquaintance with books, 
and his intercourse with able and cultivated men, 
must in the generality of cases be exceedingly 
limited. By the necessity of his condition, he is 
shut out from much that is quickening and liberal- 
izing, and fitted to impart comprehension, self-re- 
liance, and freedom. But in addition to real hin- 
derances of this nature, he has to struggle against a 
deep and almost universal prejudice. It is not sup- 
posed that any thing great or good can originate 
with persons like him. Such is the evil effect of 
social distinctions, that it is almost felt that nothing 
great or good ought to originate with persons like 
him ; and that, if it did, this would almost amount 
to a crime against the usual course of the world. 
The contrast between his condition and his aims is 
painfully present even to himself, but still more to 
others ; and the more aspiring these aims are, this 
contrast operates the more oppressively and inju- 
riously. The instances are rare indeed, in which a 



88 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

poor and unknown man lias risen above neglect 
and prejudice and the pressure of his condition, 
and alone has worked out a great idea which his 
mind had conceived. An unknown amount of ob- 
struction to his work and his triumph was thus in- 
volved in the mere fact that Jesus belonged through 
life to the lower ranks of society. 

In addition to the fact of poverty, it must be 
taken into account that almost the entire of Christ's 
life was spent in manual labor. Dwelling, till he 
was thirty years of age, in the house of Joseph the 
carpenter, we are left to imagine that he, too, was 
engaged in the same handicraft. But this matter 
is set at rest by the question of the people, no 
doubt put contemptuously, which is distinctly men- 
tioned by one of the evangelists, " Is not this the 
carpenter, the son of Mary?"* Honest labor, 
honest hand-labor is dignified and dignifjdng. 
The discipline of bodily toil and struggle, wisely 
regarded, may exert a wholesome influence on the 
higher nature, may serve noble purposes, and is 
fitted, under certain conditions, to form vigorous, 
high-toned, resolute souls. Even the acquisition 
of superior knowledge and of the power which 
knowledge creates, though difficult, is not im- 
possible to a working man ; and the workshop 
and the farm have nourished for the world some 
of its ablest benefactors. At the same time, a life 

* Mark vi., 3. 



HIS WANT OF PATRONAGE. 89 

taken up witli the labors of the hands is certainly 
not favorahle to high mental development. Such a 
life can not afford the necessary amount of leisure 
for study and research, and where the energies of 
the body are continually taxed and strained, it is 
not possible that at the same time the powers of 
the mind can be vigorously put forth, and that ex- 
tensive intellectual acquisitions can be made. Jesus 
of Kazareth was a common working carpenter till 
he was thirty years of age. 

What direct and formal education he received, 
can only be conjectured, but the high probability 
is, that it must have been of a most limited charac- 
ter. Some of his countrymen, when they first 
heard his discourses, exclaimed, " How knoweth this 
man letters, having never learned ?"* It must have 
been commonly known that he had never learned^ 
that he had received little regular instruction; 
perhaps none. Even in the absence of this positive 
evidence, the state of the Jewish nation at the time, 
the rude condition of the village in which his life 
was passed, the humble position of his family and 
his own destination to the trade of a carpenter, 
would have led us to conclude that he was unlearn- 
ed and uneducated. 

■ High patronage has sometimes made up for the 
absence of other advantages. But the poor were 
'the associates of Jesus — his only associates from 

* Joha vii., 15. 



4:0 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

first to last — and of men of wealth and influence lie 
knew little. Few thus distinguished, ever deigned 
to notice him. He received no countenance from 
the civil government of the country ; yet less was 
he sanctioned bj the priesthood of the nation. They 
were his enemies from the first, and were the secret 
cause of all his sufferings and of his cruel death. 
With the learned or the rich — with the ecclesiasti- 
cal or the civil authorities — with the influential 
classes of society, or even with single individuals 
of name and weight — he never had the most dis- 
tant association. Jesus Christ was alone, a poor 
artisan, uneducated and unpatroni^^ed. His entire 
social circumstances pronounce the impossibility, 
in human judgment, of his elevation to power and 
glory. 



PART II. 

THE SHOKTKESS OF HIS EARTHLY COURSE. 

Duration of His Ministry. — His Death. — Earthly Causes of it. — 
Intolerance of the "World and His own unconquerable Will. — 
Shortness of His Life in relation to the Eorm of His Work — in 
relation to His Influence on succeeding Ages. 

The disciples of Cliristiaiiity suggest that, liad the 
Kedeemer of the World lived to old age, the im- 
pression, at least on their minds, of feebleness, 
imperfection, and decrepitude must have been deep- 
ly injurious. They suggest, besides, that Jesus 
Jived long enough to gain a full experience of the 
world — a knowledge of the duties, trials, and 
hazards of life — and long enough for the full pro- 
bation of his personal character and for the comple- 
tion of his great work for the world. Whatever 
force there be in these suggestions, let the simple 
fact of the case be here briefly stated : Jesus passed 
away from the earth when he was only thirty -three 
years of age. Thirty years he spent in Kazareth ; 
for three years he ministered before the world, and 
then he suffered death by crucifixion. 



42 THE CHEIST OF HISTOEY. 

The early death of Christ is one of those peculiar 
conditions which, it is believed, give extraordinary 
^significance to his character and to the actual 
results of his course. This fact^ viewed in con- 
nection with its consequents, is so strange, that it is 
imperative to attempt a brief investigation of the 
causes which led to it. In this discussion, the fact 
is regarded simply in its historical significance, not 
at all in its doctrinal and spiritual relations. The 
nature and design of Christ's death, or its bearing 
on the redemption of the world, or the high and 
holy purposes which God might contemplate in it, 
are not to be considered here. The human causes 
only, which fixed so early a period to the life of 
Jesus — not those which lay in the Eternal Mind, 
but only those which sprung up on this earth — 
come within the scope of the present argument. 

Among these causes, the first place must be as- 
signed to the intolerance of the world ; the second 
to that force of will in the soul of Christ, which no 
amount of intolerance could conquer. With respect 
to the first, the simple historical fact is, that men 
could bear Jesus Christ no longer, and were in 
haste to put him to death. Spiritual truth and its 
advocates are offensive to the world. The one and 
the other, indeed, may commend themselves to the 
human conscience, and be secretly reverenced even 
where they are publicly disowned. All that is of 
God shall finally triumph as surely as God lives; 



INTOLERANCE OF MEN. 43 

but struggles, prostrations, defeats, may^ must^ pre- 
cede triumpli. Truth comes into collision with men's 
immediate interests — with their sins, exposing and 
denouncing them — with established opinions and 
usages — with what is held sacred and what has 
grown venerable by age — and the conflict can not 
but be prolonged and fierce. Men can not lightly 
bear to be detected in their sins — the interested and 
the privileged can not brook to be dispossessed — 
and, above all, the principle of unlimited intel- 
lectual and religious toleration is about the last 
which individuals or communities are disposed to 
adopt. Hence, that which is divinely true and 
pure must long appeal in vain to the judgments 
and hearts of men, and long suffer opposition and 
scorn and evil treatment at their hands; and when, 
in its contact with any age or nation, it directly 
strikes at ancient beliefs and at cherished privil- 
eges, interests, or vices, we can not wonder that the 
hatred awakened against it should become enven- 
omed and implacable, should trample on humanity 
and justice, and should even clamor for the des- 
truction of its apostles. The world, conscious of 
evil, but proud, impatient, and incensed, can bear 
no longer, and crucifies the advocate of truth. But 
there is always a significant resurrection after such 
a death. 

The world demanded that Jesus Christ should 
die. There was nothing in his spirit, doctrine, or 



4A THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

life to justify tlie demand. It will be sliowii here- 
after that he was no ambitions Aspirant to power 
and fame, no Enemy to Judaea or to Eome, to the 
Sanhedrim, the temple, or the God of his country, 
nor were corrupt and cruel men able to substantiate 
any such charges against him. But he had incurred 
the violent hatred of the leaders of all the religious 
sects in his day. His free and spiritual views, his 
deep faith and glowing piety, his open sanction of 
the innocent usages and institutions of society, his 
appeals, not to tradition or prescription, but to the 
common sense of mankind, and his use of common 
incidents and common words, not to name his re- 
proofs, as severe as they were notoriously well de- 
served, rendered him obnoxious alike to Pharisees, 
Sadducees, Ascetics, and Mystics. They all disliked 
his teaching, were provoked by his calm and 
patient spirit, were jealous of his growing influence, 
and saw, in his entire life, their own public con- 
demnation. These sects, while contending with 
one another, united in common hostility to him; 
and their leaders never rested till at their instiga- 
tion the people, too ready to obey interested and ^ 
wicked counsel, demanded his crucifixion. 

Jesus heard the cry of the excited multitude, and 
with awful serenity and force of will he signified 
his consent. He would die if he must die, but he 
would not deny himself Individuals not of com- 
mon mold and not dishonest have quailed before 



HIS UNCONQUERABLE WILL. 45 

the alternative, Truth or Life. It is a tremendous 
power within a man whicL. can brave the fiercest 
assaults of intolerance ; a power which must have 
sent its roots deep into the soul and must have 
taken hold of the entire spiritual nature. A human 
will unconquered hj frowns, by curses, and by all 
the terrors of death, is clothed with surpassing 
grandeur, with the truest moral sublimity. The 
force of character is imm^ense which, when hostility 
is gathering and deepening and maddening for its 
last brutal outburst, preserves a man undaunted, 
prepared to perish, but determined not to cower. 

Jesus of Nazareth was able to die, if he must die. 
He was prepared to offer himself up ; a precious 
and noble sacrifice, a nature just expanded before 
the eye of the world, a life in its freshness, vigor, 
and promise, and fitted for high service to God and 
man. In uncomplaining silence, in all the dignity 
of perfect meekness, in the gentlest spirit of love 
that the world ever beheld, he laid dovv^n his life. 
His soul, calm, humble, meek, and loving, was im- 
movable as a rock. The intolerance of men met 
in him a force of will not to be overborne. If he 
must die he could die, and he did die at the age of 
thirty -three. 

The fact which remains, apart from the earthly 
causes which brought it about, is this, that Christ 
acted directly and publicly on the world only for 
three years, and that he died in comparative youth. 



46 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

Usefulness and power are not measured by lengtli 
of life. Many old men have never truly lived, 
and there are early deaths which yet can tell of the 
richest fruits of living long, and point back to 
deeds of spiritual prowess and to the origination 
for others of good that will never die. Perhaps it 
is to the period of youth, as distinguished from 
maturer age, that the greatest amount of spiritual 
power, the strongest impulses, the highest activity 
and energy belong. Grave counsels, wholesome 
restraints, sagacious suggestions and modifications 
issue from the experience of age. But youth has 
originated all the great movements of the world, 
and has most largely contributed to the agency by 
which they have been rendered effective. 

He whom Christians recognize as the Eedeemer 
of the world was only a youth. Whether his re- 
ligion be regarded as a system of doctrines, or as a 
body of laws, or as a source of extraordinary in- 
fluence, it is passing strange that he should have 
died in early life. His brief period of existence 
afforded no opportunity for maturing any thing. In 
point of fact, while he lived he did very little, in 
the common sense oi doing. He originated no 
series of well-concerted plans, he neither contrived 
nor put in motion any extended machinery, he en- 
tered into no correspondence mth parties in his 
own country and in other regions of the world, in 
order to spread his influence and obtain co-opera- 



HIS INFLUENCE ON THE AGES. 47 

tion. Even tlie few wlio were Ms constant com- 
panions, and were warmly attached to his person, 
were not, in his lifetime, imbued with his senti- 
ments, and were not prepared to take up his work 
in his spirit after he was gone. He constituted no 
society with its name, design, and laws all _ de- 
finitely fixed and formally established. He had no 
time to construct and to organize, his life was too 
short ; and almost all that he did was to speok. He 
spoke in familiar conversation with his friends, or 
at the wayside to passers-by, or to those who chose 
to consult him, or to large assemblies, as opportu- 
nity offered. He left behind him a few spoken 
truths — not a line or word of writing — and a cer- 
tain spirit incarnated in his principles, and breathed 
out from his life, and then he died. 

"We are not yet entitled, to place the youth of 
Christ and the other outer conditions of his life, 
by the side of his public ministry and his personal 
character. But even here, an amazing contrast 
rises up, which we must suggest for an instant. In 
the ordinary course of events, the memory of a 
mere youth, however distinguished, would soon 
have utterly perished from among men. But Jesus 
lives in the world at this moment, and has influen- 
ced the world from his death till now. It is no 
fiction, no mere conjecture, but a fact ; an unques- 
tioned, unquestionable fact. There have been 
multitudes in all the ages since his death, and at 



48 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

this moment, after nearly two thousand years, there 
are multitudes to wliom He is dearer than life. 
History tells of warriors who reached the summit 
of their fame in comparative youth ; it tells of men 
of science also, and of scholars, and of statesmen, 
who in youth rose to great and envied distinction. 
But the difference is obvious and it is wide, be- 
tween the conquest of territory and the conquest 
of minds ; between scientific, literary, or political 
renown, and moral and spiritual influence and ex- 
cellence. Is there an instance, not of a man acquir- 
ing fame in youth and preserving it in old age, but 
of a man who died in youth, gaining vast influence 
of a purely spiritual kind, not by force of arms 
and not by secular aid in any form, but simply and 
only by his principles and his life — of such a man 
transmitting that influence through successive 
generations, and after two thousand years retain- 
ing it in all its freshness, and continuing, at that 
distance of time, to establish himself, and to reign 
almightily in the minds and hearts of myriads of 
human beings ? If there be, or any thing approach- 
ing to it, where is it? There is not such an exam- 
ple in the whole history of the world, except Jesus 
Ohrist. 

It is time to remember that we are now only 
laying the foundation, not constructing the edifice. 
But this is the foundation on which it is proposed 
to rest the argument for the Divinity of Christ. 



HIS PEKSONAL PBE-EMINENCE. 49 

These^ with one short addition to be mentioned im- 
mediately, were the outer conditions of the life of 
Christ, Tinder which his public ministry and his 
personal character reached their destined develop- 
ment. It is not in that development alone^ but in 
that development under these conditions^ that the 
evidence will be found of his True Origin and of 
his personal Pre-eminence. ^ 

8 



PART III. 

THE AGE AND PLACE I^ WHICH HE APPEAEED. 

Moral condition of the ago. — Grontile world. — Judea. — Galilee.— » 
Nazareth. 

Mythical theory. — Irreconcilable with the outer conditions of 
Christ's life. — These, facts not myths. — Not founded on Mes- 
sianic ideas. 

The circumstances to be introduced here do not 
need extended notice, but they are too important 
to be omitted entirely. The age in which Jesus 
appeared, the nation to which .he belonged, and 
the place where he dwelt while among men, formed 
an obvious limitation around his earthly life. If 
there shall be found any thing free, and catholic, 
and world-wide in the affections and purposes of 
his soul, it must be remembered that he was born 
a Jew, one of a people who had been long accus- 
tomed to over- value themselves and to under- value 
all the rest of the world — a people who had become 
notoriously proud, narrow, and intolerant. He ap- 
peared, besides, at a peculiar crisis in the history 
of that people, and indeed of the world. The tes- 
timony of many independent witnesses proves be- 



CONDITION OF THE AiiE. 61 

yond question tlie awful corruption of manners 
into wliich tlie nations of antiquity had then sunk. 
It is represented that the age betrayed a secret con« 
sciousness of its own moral condition, and a secret 
apprehension that some terrible change was ap- 
proaching. It would be mere pedantry to quote 
in proof of this, from Lucian on the one hand and 
from Juvenal and Persius on the other, passages 
with which even a moderate scholarship is familiar. 
And with respect to Judea, the Jewish historian of 
the times* speaks with unfeigned horror of the 
moral abominations which then darkened his coun- 
try as well as the Koman world. But Galilee was 
disreputable even in Judea, wicked as it was ; and 
even in Gralilee, Nazareth was notorious for the ig- 
norance and profligacy of its inhabitants. It is 
a recorded fact that Christ's connection with this 
place, merely as a dweller in it, created a prejudice 
against him, and attached a stigma to his name. 
The question was put, as if it contained its own 
answer, " Can there any good thing come out of 
Nazareth ?"f Jesus spent his life, till he was 
thirty years of age, amid the degradation and pol- 
lution of this village, constantly familiar with 
scenes which were calculated to destroy the seeds 
of all virtue in his opening soul. It was here, also, 

* Joseph. Antiq. Jud. See the detail commencin<^, Kat TvporepoK 
19V rdv 'lataKuv, k. t. "k. lib. 18. cap. 3., Geneva, 1663. 
\ Tohn, i. 46 



62 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

in the view of those who had known him from his 
infancy, that he stood forth, at the end of thirty 
years, to unfold that character, and to assume and 
execute that mission which are now to form the 
subject of aL extended, and we hope also an im 
partial investigation. 

Thus far our task is accomplished; however 
briefly and hastily, the outer conditions of the life of 
Christ have been spread before us. But it would 
be an unpardonable omission, if even here, special 
attention were not invited to the fact that these are 
utterly irreconcilable with the vaunted mythical 
theory. The ablest expositor of this theory, while 
admitting a certain basis of historical truth in the 
Christian Grospels, denies altogether their authen- 
ticity as histories, and maintains that the Life which 
they delineate, like the ancient mythologies of 
Greece and Kome, is fabulous rather than historical. 
What seem to be facts he pronounces myths, shad- 
owing forth certain spiritual truths, and these he 
labors to show were the very truths most firmly 
believed by the nation in connection with the ex- 
pected Messiah. His avowed purpose is to prove 
that by the aid of their imagination the writers of 
the Gospels wrought up the scanty materials which 
they possessed into a series of fables, each contain- 
ing a spiritual meaning, and that meaning always 



53 



in harmony witli their traditionary ideas, and even 
suggested by them. 

With the utmost confidence we can defy con'-,ra- 
diction when we assert that these principles are 
incapable of being applied to that series of iacts 
which has formed the subject of the short review 
we have just finished. "With whatever plausibility 
they may be brought to bear upon other parts of 
the evangelical narrative, it will baffle the most 
dexterous criticism to adjust them to this portion 
of it: "The corrupt and debasing influences amid 
which Jesus grew up in the village of Nazareth " — 
" The shortness of his earthly course, and its igno- 
minious close " — " His poverty, his humble trade as 
a carpenter, and his want of education and of world 
ly patronage" — these are the things which we have 
put forward as the outer conditions of Christ's life. 
These were not only not in harmony with the Mes- 
sianic ideas of the Jews at that time, or indeed 
at any time, but they were diametrically opposed 
to them. We make bold to maintain that they were 
the very last things which a Jew would ever have 
dreamed of connecting with the life of his Messiah. 
They are not Messianic; the most unscrupulous 
ingenuity can never construe them into myths, or 
make them harmonize with national and tradition- 
ary fancies. Whatever be fable, these are certainly 
facts, and would have been eagerly concealed; if 
they had not been received and undeniable facts 



t/v4 



54 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

and these facts are all that are now demanded, as 
the basis on which to found an argument for the 
true divinity of Christ. 

"Jesus was a resident in the village of JSTazareth 
till he was thirty years of age. He died in compa- 
rative youth, when he was only thirty-three years 
old. He was a working carpenter ; poor, unknown, 
untaught, inexperienced, and unbefriended." We 
shall go to some obscure hamlet of our land, known 
chiefly for the extreme profligacy of its inhabitants 
— we shall go to the workshop of a carpenter there, 
to a young man at the bench, earning his bread by 
the labor of his hands, remarkable only because 
amid the surrounding vice, he has preserved him- 
self uncontaminated — we shall go to this youthful 
artisan, not yet thirty years of age, born of humble 
parents, brought up in a condition of poverty, 
associating only with the poor, in no way connected 
with the rich, the learned, the influential, or receiv- 
ing assistance, or even countenance, from them — 
we shall go to this poor young man, who has had 
no intercourse with cultivated society, no accei^s to 
books, no time for reading and study, no education 
but the commonest, and no outward advantages of 
any kind above others in his humble station, from 
his birth till that time. Such, in simple historical 
truth, such exactly was Jesus of Nazareth ; and these 
were the very conditions under which he developed 
bio fature character, and rose to his future position. 



BOOK SECOND. 

THE WORK OF CHRIST AMONG MEN. 



IN FIVE PARTS. 

Part I. His own Idea of His publie Life. 

IL The Commencement of His Ministry. 

HI. The marked Character of His public AppearanceiB, 

IV. His Teaching. 

V. The Argument from His Work to His Divinity. 



PART I. 

HIS OWN IDEA OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE. 

His public position, the act of his own wiU. — His claim to Mes 
siahship. — His idea of Messiahship. — Ifot temporal but spirit- 
ual. — ^Not national but universal. — Jesus alone in his age, his 
country, the world 

It is a fact that Jesus of Nazaretli rose to a posi- 
tion of unrivaled prominence in the eyes of his 
country. Whether this may appear to have re- 
sulted, according to the natural succession of 
events, from causes which are at once obvious, or 
whether it shall be found inexplicable on ordinary 
principles, the fact itself remains ; and no natural- 
istic, rationalistic, or mythic theory, can expunge it 
from the record. 

Perhaps the broad and startling peculiarities of 
the age in which Jesus appeared^ on the one hand^ 
influenced his mind, and on the other hand, pre- 
pared his countrymen to recognize his assumed 
prominence. The great epochs in the history of the 
world, when it is laboring under some intolerable 
burden, or heaving with some new and urgent 
mission just ripe for development, find for them* 



58- THE CHEIST OF HISTOBY. 

selves the men equal to their wants. Unwonted re- 
sults are always exMbited at such times — ^powers 
which had never before revealed their existence are 
drawn forth, and latent attributes of character start 
into sudden energy at the bidding of extraordinary 
emergencies. Individuals, in spite of themselves, 
are then elevated to celebrity, or the necessities of 
the times appeal to some mind so resistlessly, that 
although uninvited, yet secretly conscious of reso- 
lution and energy, equal to the crisis, the man 
feels himself compelled to step forth at once into 
publicity. 

It is certain, that no demand from any quarter 
was made upon Jesus to attempt the emancipation 
of his country and his age. The eyes of the nation 
were not turned to him ; and no party in the nation, 
perhaps not an individual, was prepared to find a 
Eedeemer in him. The transition from private to 
public life was spontaneous on his part. The first 
thought, the matured purpose, and the decisive act, 
were all entirely his own. He came forth of his 
own accord — ^he assumed a public position, and was 
not compelled, or even invited, or even encouraged, 
to accept it. This was marvellous. We can not 
but ask, did it not abash a man in his condition to 
become, and above all, to make himself, an object of 
universal attention ? Did not his want of prepa- 
ration, and his conscious incapacity for a great 
public enterprise overwhelm him? Did he not 



HIS PUBLIC POSITION HIS OWN ACT. 59 

tremble to encounter the caprice of tlie multitude 
• — the learning, bigotry, and jealousy, of the priest- 
hood, and the tyranny, and cruelty of the civil 
rulers? He did not, so far as can be discovered. 
Without fear, but with no ostentation of courage, 
J esus _p?acec? AmseZ/* on an unusual elevation. His 
entrance into public Hfe, whatever it might mean,^ 
and whatever it might involve, was not a foreign 
suggestion, but a native impulse— a deliberate pur- 
pose of his own ; and his own purpose also regula- 
ted all his movements throughout. Neither the 
popular feeling, nor even the wishes of his disciples, 
nor the current of events, were suffered to govern 
him, for he repeatedly acted in the face of them all. 
His own idea from the first was supreme, and his 
life was a determined realization of that idea, in 
spite of every opposing force. 

The highest end of Christ's mission^ whether in 
his mind, or in the evangelic record, is not now the 
subject of investigation. His entire life, his per- 
sonal character, and his public labors would require 
to be spread out ; and not only his life, but his 
death, with all its mysterious meaning ; and not 
only his life and his death, but the subsequent his- 
tory of himself and his cause would require to be 
examined, before we could reach even the ma- 
terials for forming a correct judgment of his mis- 
sion, in its wide and holy significance. It is enough 
at present to know, that he claimed to be Tha 



60 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

Messiah of the Jews. He repeatedly avowed this 
claim in plain terms ; and it is obvious, on the face 
of the gospels, that from first to last, the convic- 
tion in his mind, one of the formative and govern- 
ing principles of his public life, was this, that he 
was The Messiah, 

It is historically certain that at this period the 
advent of a deliverer was widely expected, and ex- 
pected with intense enthusiasm. The Gentile 
world, groaning beneath its burden of darkness 
and crime, awaited a supernatural redemption ; and 
Judea was tremulous with a hope well defined, and 
established by the authority of many a sacred 
text. It was not wonderful that, in a time of univer- 
sal and high excitement many unfounded claims 
should be put forward, and especially that among 
the Jews pretenders should start up, moved by 
personal ambition or patriotism, or religious enthu- 
siasm. Besides, it must not be overlooked that the 
appearance of John the Baptist, a genuine claimant 
of religious distinctiou, whose success at this period 
was unbounded, was calculated not to repress, but 
to deepen the aspirations of other susceptible souls. 
Perhaps in this way, humble as Jesus was, the 
latent spark of ambition, patriotism, or piety, was 
kindled up in his breast, and at last in that obscure 
village, he came to hope and believe that he was 
" the elect of Grod." But a critical and vital ques- 
tion demands solution here, before we can consent 



NOT TEMPOKAL BUT SPIRITUAL. 61 

to this interpretation of the origin of his move- 
ments. It is this : were the received views of the 
character and the mission of the Messiah, Christ's 
viev/s? Had he only caught the spirit of his times ? 
"Was he only an embodiment of the popular faith ? 
"Was he only a creation, naturally springing up oul 
of sentiments and feehngs which had long rooted 
themselves in the heart of the nation? He was 
not ; but he was diametrically the opposite of all 
this. His idea had nothing in common with the 
views and the spirit which were then universal, 
but was peculiar to himself and perfectly original. 
The Jewish Messiah,* in the belief of the Jewish 
people, w^as to be a monarch and a conqueror ; his 
kingdom was to be an earthly kingdom, and his 
glory, gathered first from the conquest, and then 
from the sovereignty of the whole world, was to 
be earthly glory. Such a creed to a youthful hearty 
must have been powerfully seductive. A throne, 
a crown, and the empire of a world, might well 
have kindled ambition in the dullest soul. But 
Jesus of Nazareth never aspired to sovereignty, oi 
wealth, or earthly glory of any kind. He collected 
no armies and no instruments and resources of 
war; he invaded no territory and assumed no 
state such as became a warrior or a prince. The 
idea that the love of conquest, or of the splendors 

* Channing's Sermon on ihe Character of Christ, Glasgow 
edition of works, p. 425. 



62 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

and pomp of royalty, the love of fame or of world- 
ly power, ever liad a place in his mind, is utterly 
destitute of support. It is even in the face of all 
the evidence. ISTo part of his conduct, none of 
his proceedings, and none of his sayings, awaken 
such a suspicion. "My kingdom is not of this 
world," he declared to Pontius Pilate ; " If my 
kingdom were of this world, then would my serv- 
ants fight, that I should not be delivered unto the 
Jews ; but now is my kingdom not from hence." * 
If he had it in his heart to be a king, and he cer- 
tainly had, it was to be a king not of bodies ^ but of 
souls ; if he aspired to reign, it was to reign not 
over men, but in them, in their judgments, affec- 
tions, and consciences. "I am come," he said, "a 
light into the world." ^ "To this end was I born, and 
for this cause came I into the world, that I should 
bear witness unto the truth." ^ The only weapon 
of which he made use was spiritual truth ; he did 
nothing but teach. His life, his words, all the mani- 
festations of his character, are consistent only with 
the design to achieve, not a material, but a moral 
conquest, and to effect not a political, but a spirit- 
ual revolution in the world. He had risen to the 
conception of a purely spiritual reign, the concep- 
tion of a palace and a throne for God in the soul 
of man, the conception of the regeneration of man'a 
inward nature, and the free and glad restoration of 
I John, xviii. 36. 2 ib. xii. 46. 3 lb. xviii. 37. 



NOT NATIONAL, BUT UNIVERSAL. 63 

tliat nature to the unseen, but living and ever-pres- 
ent Father of souls. 

We have looked only at one side of the popular 
faith. Yiewed from an opposite side, the original- 
ity and individuality of Christ's idea will be still 
more apparent. The Messiah, in the belief of the 
Jewish nation, was to be not only a monarch, but 
emphatically a Jewish monarch ; reigning, indeed, 
over all the kingdoms of the world, but acknowl- 
edging a peculiar relation to the ancient people ; 
his throne being in Jerusalem, and his ministers and 
distinguished servants, Jews. This belief, at a time 
when they were laboring under a foreign yoke, 
had become tenfold more dear ; every feeling of 
patriotism was enlisted on its side, in circumstances 
when, if ever, patriotism is genuine and fervid; 
not to say that, in this case, patriotism was invested .._- 
with the sanctity of religion. Last of all, the 
popular faith harmonized with the deep hereditary 
contempt of the Jews for the rest of mankind, 
with their settled persuasion of the distinction 
which God had made between them and all other 
nations, and with their long-cherished anticipa- 
tions of permanent and undisputed pre-eminence. 
Nothing can be more clear than that, to oppose a 
belief so deep-seated, to crush hopes so sacred, to 
disown the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, 
and to look with equal favor on both, was to invite 
unmeasured and relentless hatred, and certain dis- 



64 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

grace and defeat. If Jesus had meant to ingratiate 
himself with his countrymen, his course would 
have been to sympathize with their creed and their 
hopes.' 

But, independently of any personal or public 
object which he might have in view, how could he 
have failed to adopt as his ov^n, the faith of his 
country in this matter ? He had been brought up, 
like others, in all the common views; he must 
have heard them often from his mother's lips, from 
grave and pious men also, and especially in the 
synagogue of Nazareth on the Sabbath days. There 
is no reason to think that he can have heard any 
thing but the common views, from his infancy up- 
ward. But he had risen, nevertheless, to a purer 
and loftier faith, and somehow had formed for 
himself quite a novel and original idea of the char- 
acter of the Messiah. " The hour cometh," he said 
to the woman of Samaria, " when neither in this 
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, ye shall worship 
the Father; . . . when the true worshipers shall 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth." ^ Re- 
ligion to him, and the bonds of religious fellow- 
ship, were not national, but spiritual; connected, 
not with place or people, but with the state of the 
soul. He believed in something more dear than 
country, more dear than even the closest of earthly 

I See "Whately's Introductory Lessons on the Christian Evi- 
dences. 2 John iv. 21-23. 



NOT NATIONAL, BUT UNIVERSAL. 65 

relationsTiips. ''Whosoever shall do the will of 
mj Father who is in heaven, the same is mj 
brother and sister and mother." ^ " They shall 
come from the east and from the west, and from 
the north and from the south, and shall sit down 
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king- 
dom of heaven."^ God's kingdom and his own 
mission, as he understood it, embraced the world, 
and was designed, not to confer peculiar dis- 
tinctions on a single nation, but to originate and 
diffuse blessings to which all nations alike should 
be welcome. His idea was catholic, as it was 
purely spiritual. Born and educated a Jew, asso- 
ciating only with Jews, never beyond the limits of 
Judea in his life, whence had he derived this idea, 
whence caught this spirit ? how gained this expan 
sion and nobility of soul, how reached this large, 
and lofty, and Godlike faith ? 

That poor young man whose external history 
we have looked upon, was alone in his country, in 
his age, in the world. His great soul rose above 
religious prejudices and errors, and above all na- 
tional, educational, and social influencLS. He stood 
forth not a Jew, but a man to fulfill a high and 
purely spiritual mission ; embracing not Judea 
only, but the world ; not a nation only, but universal 

^ Matthew xii. 50. 

2 Matthew viii. 11. and Luke xiii. 29. — See Channing's Se^ 
mon as above. 



66 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

humanity. And was he, then, essentially, nothing 
more than he seemed to be ? "Was all this possi- 
ble, in the circumstances, to a mere man ? Above 
all, was it possible to such a man as we have found 
Jesus outwardly was ? * 



PAET II. 

THE COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTET. 

He dealt with the Age and Country collectively. — Their Character. 
— Christ, the Incarnate Conscience of both. — He not conscious 
of Personal Guilt. — Began by rebuking, in order to reform, the 
Nation. 

The marked difference between the views whicli 
are now held of the office of teaching, and those 
which were prevalent in the ancient world, must 
not be overlooked. Yery extended freedom of in- 
vestigation and communication was enjoyed in 
heathen nations by all classes, without distinction. 
The priesthood were not considered to possess 
higher rights and powers in this respect than 
others, and any individual, without violating any 
law or any established usage, might found a school 
and promulgate his faith or his skepticism. No 
restrictive policy, at least as to persons, was sanc- 
tioned even in Judea, and even the office of religious 
teaching was not reserved for the clerical or any 
other privileged order. There were rabbis, the 
heads of schools for sacred learning, and there were 
also scribes and lawyers whose business it was to 



68 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

write out copies of tlie sacred text and to expound 
its meaning ; but they were not necessarily priests 
nor of tlie Levitical tribe. There was nothing in 
the laws or customs of Judea, to hinder any in- 
dividual from assuming the office of religious 
teacher. It may therefore have excited little sur- 
prise, when Jesus began to teach, that he was no 
priest or rabbi, or scribe or lawyer. But it must 
have struck the men of that generation that he 
was- young, and poor, and unlearned ; all the outer 
conditions of his life were such as to make it won- 
derful that he should aspire to any public office, 
and to insure that, if he hazarded the attempt, his 
presumption would be punished with certain and 
signal failure. 

But the voice of Christ was lifted up, and the 
world heard, as, indeed, the world hears to this 
day. In some of the villages of G-alilee, he first be- 
gan to speak, to individuals or to small or large 
assemblages of persons, as the circumstances might 
be. He journeyed throughout Galilee, then 
throughout the other parts of Judea, and was fre- 
quently in Jerusalem preaching and teaching. It 
is \hQ first tones of his voice which we now seek to 
catch, the commencement of his ministry which we 
now seek to observe and interpret. He began to 
deal with facts rather than with doctrines — with 
this fact especially, that one great era in the world's 
history was then closing, and another of higher 



DEALS WITH THE AGE AND COtJJSTRT. 69 

meaning and of brighter promise was then opening 
■upon men. He began bj characterizing the masses 
rather than individuals; bj depicting the country 
and the age collectively, and in their broad and 
prominent qualities. He foretold the speedy doom 
of things as they then were, and declared that evil, 
wide-spread and deep-seated, could no longer be 
endured; and that a radical spiritual revolution 
was at hand — a kingdom of God in place of a reign 
of hypocrisy and formalism. And he taught at 
the same time that the duty of the age was ex- 
pressed in one word, repentance; not in the re- 
stricted meaning to which custom has reconciled us, 
but in the sense of an entire and universal change 
of mind. " Eepent," he cried as he commenced his 
public course; '■'change your minds ^ for the reign 
of heaven is at hand." ' He thus made it known 
through the length and breadth of the land, that 
in his judgment, at least, nothing would avail but 
a thorough and entire reformation of principles 
and of manners. It must have been at once evi- 
dent that Jesus was no panderer to the prejudices 
and vices of the times in which he lived, or of any 
favored class of individuals. He pointed with a 
faithful hand to the opinions, the habits, the moral- 
ity, the religion, the worship, the entire spirit of 
the age, and pronounced that the condition of 
things was utterly corrupt and must be revolution- 
» Matt. iv. IT. 



70 THE CHKIST OF HISTOEY. 

ized. The voice of his opening ministry to all 
classes in the nation was this, " Kepent ; change 
your minds, for the reign of heaven is at hand." 

It does not rest on his statements only, but on 
ample historical evidence, that that particular 
period bore the character of deep hypocrisy and 
ungodliness. Rigid observance of religicus cere- 
monies was combined with ignorance of religion 
itself and with an utter destitution of its spirit. 
Gross wickedness was hidden beneath the forms 
and the name of sanctity. Spiritual worship, the 
veneration and love of a God of righteousness, 
purity, truth, and all moral excellence, was almost 
unknown. There was a magnificent temple, an 
established worship, an ordained priesthood, a vast 
and gorgeous ritual, and sacrifices, and offerings, 
and feasts and fasts. There were also synagogues 
open every day and recognized forms of prayer 
which were repeated, not only in private, but in the 
market-places, and at the corners of the streets. It 
was even sought to invest the food, the dress, the 
looks, the postures of the body with the sacredness 
of religion ; and if such things as these had con- 
stituted piety, that age must have been pre-emi- 
nently pious. But Jesus declared that true 
worship is perfectly separable from these things, 
and is not essentially connected with any of them, 
though it may consist along with them all. God 
looks to the soul alone, to its genuine and uncon- 



THEIR CHARACTER. 71 

strained actings, its reverence, trust, and love. 
"Worship in God's sight is wholly spiritual — 'always, 
altogether, only within the soul. 

Human virtue was as little understood in that 
age, as Divine worship. A selfish spirit had con- 
sumed the heart of all true goodness, not only as 
between man and his God, but as between man and 
man. Morality hixvx become an organized hypoc- 
risy, truth and inward excellence empty names, and 
ritual observances, which contained no homage of 
the understanding or of the heart, were the vail 
thrown over unrighteous and impui'c lives. Jesus 
proclaimed the sacredness, dignity, and beauty of 
moral excellence, and that, without this, there could 
be no greatness and no worth. He conveyed to 
the ears of his countrymen, some things altogether 
new, and others he announced with greater clear- 
ness and with new authority. The greatness of 
humility and the dignity of love as taught by him, 
were new, and they were too palpably unwelcome, 
as well as new, to Gentiles and Jews. The pride, 
ambition, and covetousness of the human heart, the 
doctrine of retaliation, and the warlike spirit of the 
times, were utterly opposed to this teaching. Jesus 
blessed and honored the poor in spirit. He taught 
that virtue consisted in the patient endurance and 
the sincere forgiveness of wrongs, and in kindness 
to the wrong-doer ; consisted not in revenge, but 
in love, in genuine good-will — good- will even, to 



72 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

enemies. It was then believed — ^it is still very 
widely believed— that high self-estimation is essen- 
tial to dig aity of character. Jesus put his hand on 
the head of a little child, and said, ''Whosoever 
shall humble himself as this little child, the same 
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." ^ Low 
liness is greatness, genuine goodness is greatness, 
child-like obedience to God is greatness. True dig 
nity is a lowly and guileless state of soul. Hum 
bleness of mind, together with rectitude, purity 
truth, love of God and good- will to man, these are 
the elements of moral grandeur and of the highest 
spiritual dignity. 

Whether or not the ministry of Christ realized 
at the last what it promised at the commencement, 
it certainly began with a faithful revelation to that 
age of its own moral condition. The truest bene- 
factor of any age, is he who exposes and expresses 
it to itself. Self knowledge is wealth and well-be 
ing, the basis of moral reformation and of moral 
progress, whether to the individual or to the mul- 
titude. In this case, conscience, stronger than the 
pride and the blindness of the soul, brings up from 
the depths within an image which the man or the 
multitude fails not to recognize ; and the look of 
which, though it alarms, corrects and heals. . ..tj 
who shall touch and quicken another's conscience, 
who shall present truth to it, and rouse it to fidel* 

^ Matthew xviii. 4. 



i 



TBtJEST BENEFACTOR OF THE AGE. 73 

itj, performs an invaluable, but also a difficult and 
a hazardous service. And the difficulty and tbe 
hazard are incalculably augmented when we pass 
from an individual to a nation ; for the blindness, 
the pride, and the perversity of will in this case are 
beyond measure more inacessible and invincible. 
The age, like the man, flatters itself, becomes rec- 
onciled by habit to any evil — so reconciled, that at 
length evil is invested with a kind of sacredness. 
False shame makes it reluctant to confess and to 
yield: it is eager to find out excellences, and as 
eager not to see or to forget faults, until there is at 
last no eye, no ear, no soul to distinguish that which 
is wrong. A conscience is needed for the age, as 
for the individual — a power that shall reveal it to 
itself, and arouse and convict it. Jesus acted in the 
outset of his career to the men of *his generation — 
not in promise only, but in fact — ^the part of the 
truest friend, and traced out before them in broad 
and faithful lines their moral likeness, in order 
that they might recognize themselves. The age 
in its express lineaments at that time, in its igno- 
rance, formalism, pride, hypocrisy, and impurity, 
he held up to itself For the time, he was an in- 
cr^'^'ate conscience to the nation, performing that 
oMV which each man owed to himself, but would 
not discharge ; and crying to all in a voice fitted to 
pierce to the depths of their spiritual nature, " Ke- 
4 



74 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

pent ; change your minds, for tlie reign of heaven 
is at hand." 

Boldness and honesty are not always associated 
with becoming modesty, and a keen perception of 
what is wrong in others, is very separable from a 
quick sensibility to the faults of one's own charao- 
ter. Had this Jesus, we are entitled to ask, no 
share in the guilt of his country ? Admitting that 
his powers were extraordinary — ^that he was, as he 
seemed to be, able to descend below events and 
manifestations, down to their hidden causes, and to 
bring up these causes discovered and interpreted — 
admitting that in his recorded statements no want 
of comprehensiveness of observation, sobriety of 
judgment, or impartiality of spirit, can be detected, 
are we to forget, that he himself belonged to the 
country, to the age which he so unqualifiedly con- 
demned ; and have we not a right to ask whether 
he, therefore, was not necessarily involved in their 
guHt ? It will be shown hereafter, and it is scarcely 
denied by any intelligent and candid rejector of the 
higher claims of Christianity, that the personal char- 
acter of Jesus was unimpeachable ; at all events was 
in point of fact unimpeached. Proclaiming the sins 
of others, Ae, so far as the evidence goes, was above 
suspicion, above charge ; and in all his utterances, 
there is nothing to indicate a sense either of person- 
al guilt or personal danger. It often appears, in 
what he says and does, that the spiritual condition 



NOT COISrSCIOUS OF PERSONAL GUILT. 75 

of otliers affected his soril with genuine compassion 
for them, and with deep solicitude for the great 
cause of God and man; but there is no token 
either of fear or of shame, on his own account. He 
seems rather to stand apart, and only to look dow 
upon the facts of a condition in which he had no 
personal share. 

The question imperatively demands an answer — 
Who was this, whose mode of looking on human 
affairs and whose feelings were so original, so supe- 
rior, and who professed to be gifted with such un- 
common insight into the moral state of the world, 
and with such fore-knowledge, withal, of its coming 
destinies ? What right had Ae, to pronounce on the 
spiritual condition and the pressing duty of his 
country? It is said, in reply to these questions, 
that the convictions of his conscience were imper- 
ative ? There is indeed no higher authority than 
conscience, and no higher virtue than to bow im- 
plicitly to that authority. But how did it happen 
that Christ's conscience alone was thus clamorous, 
and that he alone was compelled to speak out ? A 
man distinguished in the church or the state, ven- 
erable by years of sainted character, and of large 
and ripened experience, may be allowed to do what 
would be presumptuous in any other. But this 
was no gifted, experienced, or distinguished char- 
acter ; no statesman, priest, or venerable sage ; but 
to all mortal seeming, an inexperienced, uneducated 



76 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

mecliaiiic. The fact is simply this, an obscure youtli 
took it upon himself to be the teacher, reprover, re- 
former, of his country and his age. Was this pos- 
sible, in the circumstances, to a mere man — ^above 
all, was it possible to such a man as we have found 
Jesus outwardly was ? ^ 



PART Til. 

THE MAEKED CHARACTER OF HIS PUBLIC 
APPEARANCES. 

L Severity. — Moral Condition of Palestine. — Scenes of His early 
Ministry. — Scribes and Pharisees. — Formalism and Hypocrisy. 
— II. Tenderness. — Instances and Source. — HI. Simplicity. — 
General Character of His Life. — Relation of His Teaching to 
Times, Places, Persons. — His "Words and Illustrations. — TV. 
Authority. — Testimony of Hearers, — Claim to Connection with 
God. 

The individuality of Jesus strongly impressed 
itself on his whole public life. It gave a unique 
form, as has just been shown, to the beginning of 
his ministry, and the same impress, but drawn with 
deeper lines, was left on his entire subsequent 
course. One of the most marked features of 
Christ's spirit and manner in public was 

I. The terrible severity with which, although sel- 
dom, he exposed and denounced evil. Friendless 
and powerless as he seemed to be — as in his earthly 
relations he certainly was — he did not repress on 
necessary occasions a burning indignation; and if a 
voice of thunder was required to awaken and alarm 
that generation, such a voice was lifted up and re- 



78 THE CHEIST OF HISTOKY. 

Bounded throngli the lengtli and breadth of the 
land. Supposing the aim of Jesus to have been, as 
we" shall hereafter prove that it was, to plant a spirit- 
ual system among men — the mightiest obstruction 
then existing to such a system was the condition of 
Judea. The minds of the Jews were so proud, so 
blinded, and so hardened by sin, that until they 
were thoroughly aroused and convicted, there could 
be no opening for the entrance of new light and 
life. It was not of choice, but from necessity, that 
the preaching of Jesus took that form which was 
yet an exception to its pervading tone, and that 
with stern severity he rebuked the age in which he 
appeared. ''This is an evil generation" — "an evil 
and adulterous generation" — " a sinful generation" 
■ — '^a wicked generation" — " a perverse generation" 
— "that the blood of all the prophets which has 
been shed from the foundation of the world may 
be required of this generation." ^ 

Upon the scenes of his earlier ministrations, he 
poured forth his indignant, yet pathetic warnings — 
" Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Beth- 
saida I for if the mighty works, which have been 
done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, 
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth 
and in ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more 
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment 
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art 
I Matthew, Mark, and Luke, passim. 



SCKIBES AND PHARISEES. 79 

exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to 
hell." ' 

But the objects of deepest aversion and abhor- 
rence to Jesus were the Pharisees, Lawyers, and 
Scribes, the leaders of the chief sect in that day, 
the transcribers and interpreters of the Bible. He 
was strikingly more patient with the Sadducees, 
the latitudinarians and freethinkers of Judea, al- 
though he decisively condemned their principles. 
Even to the convicted and gross violator of the 
laws of morality, he spoke with wondrous gentle- 
ness. But his severity was consuming, when he 
turned to the high religious professors — ^the men of 
stern orthodoxy and of saintly rigor — ^the admired 
but unworthy champions of Judaism. Hypocrisy, 
pretense, hollow semblance, were of old, and they 
are still, nnutterably abhorrent to Christ; and 
nothing was^ or now is, so dear to him as simpli- 
city and sincerity. If there be still, as there were 
of old, men '' who tithe mint and anise and cum- 
min, but neglect the weightier matters of the law, 
judgment, mercy, and faith," in whom, however 
fair their exterior, are found not the living princi- 
ples of religion, but only dead dogmas and sub- 
mission to outward forms, Christianity disowns 
them as Christ disowned these. The kingdom of 
God on earth which he announced and founded, is 
the reign of living principles in the soul, not the 

1 Matthew, xi. 21, 22, 23. 



80 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

adoption with tlie lips, or even by the judgment, of 
a system of dogmas, however true, and not out- 
ward homage to any set of rites, however signifi- 
cant. The Being with whom we have to do is a 
spirit ; and his worship is a spiritual and real serv- 
ice. Nothing but truth, pure truth, a living 
reality in the soul, will answer to the principles 
and the spirit of the Christian books. Simple 
reality is every thing in this rehgion — ^pretense is 
infamy and crime. 

Against hypocrisy, formalism, pretense, Jesus 
lifted up his voice in the severest tones. " Beware 
of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." 
" Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." 
" Ye shut the kingdom of heaven against men, 
and neither go in yourselves nor suffer them that 
are entering to go in." " Ye love greetings in the 
market-places, and the uppermost rooms at feasts, 
and the chief seats in the synagogues." " Ye bind 
heavy burdens on men's shoulders, but ye your- 
selves will not touch them with one of your 
fingers." '' Ye devour widows' houses, and for a 
pretense make long prayers." " Ye compass sea 
and land to make one proselyte, and when he is 
made, he is tenfold more the child of hell than 
before." " Ye cleanse the outside, but within ye 
are full of extortion and excess." " Ye strain at a 
gnat, and swallow a camel." " Ye blind guides." 
*' Oh. fools, and blind." " Whited sepulchers, out- 



TENDERNESS. 81 

wardly ye appear rigliteous, but witTiiii ye are 
full of hypocrisy and iniquity." " Ye serpents, ye 
generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the 
damnation of hell ?" ^ How withering, how blast- 
ing, must such words have been from such lips ! 
But imagine a young man outwardly conditioned 
as Jesus had always hitherto been and at this very 
moment actually was, equal to such thinking and 
such daring, and still more imagine him tolerated 
even for an instant in uttering such words — and all 
the while to be no other and no more than he 
seemed to be ! It is impossible. 

But severity in Christ was exceptional and occa- 
sional, as it was terrible. It was awakened only 
toward certain aspects of the age, and only to- 
ward certain classes of character. Another and 
quite opposite attribute pervaded and distinguishea 
his official life — the attribute of 

n. Tenderness. The great lights of the world, 
brilliant but cold, have not often reflected much of 
this gentle virtue. Philosophers and sages have 
deemed susceptibility of heart unbecoming their 
character and vocation. A gifted and Grod-sent man, 
it is thought, must be superior to all the tenderer 
and softer impulses of ordinary human nature; 
and it is found in fact, that when men imagine they 
are appointed to act in God's name, they at once 
assume a sort of holy isolation and crucify the 

» Matthew, xxiii, 13-33. 
4* 



82 THE CHEIST OF HISTOBY. 

common feelings and sympathies wMcli bind tliem 
to their fellow-creatures. They speak down to 
humanity, instead of standing on its level and 
mingling in its sorrows and its joys. 

The life of Jesus Christ is full of incidents, that 
reveal surpassing tenderness of heart. As he jour- 
neyed to Jerusalem, when he drew near to the 
city, he wept over it, and said, " Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest 
them that are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth 
gather her chickens under her wings, but ye would 
not!" ''If thou hadst known, even thou, at least 
in this, thy day, the things that belong to thy peace ; 
but now they are hid from thine eyes !"^ At the 
last, this city was distinguished by a singular act 
of his^f grace ; and when he commanded his disci- 
ples to " preach repentance and remission of sins 
among all nations/' he added, " beginning at Jeru- 
salem.'''' ^ Of the same character was the merciful 
notice of that disciple, who, in the hour of trial, 
had disowned and deserted him. The first words 
which Jesus spoke when he again met this fallen 
man were admonitory but gracious : " Simon, son 
of Jonas, lovest thou me?"^ Among the multi- 
tudes who followed him to Calvary, were certain 
women, to whom he turned and said, " Daughters 

1 Luke, xiii. 34, and xix. 42. * Luke, xxiv, 47. 

3 John, xxi. 16. 



INSTANCES OF TENDERNESS. 83 

of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves 
and for your children."^ Bethany recalls the 
image of a friendship, as genial and as touching, as 
ever grew on this earth. Jesus loved Martha, and 
Mary, and Lazarus. Lazarus fell sick and died. 
Jesus came to the house of mourning, and 
amid the desolation and anguish of the loving 
hearts there, he " groaned in spirit, and was troub- 
led ;" he followed the sisters to the grave, and, 
when he saw them weeping, and their friends also 
weeping, "Jesus wept." ^ Once, as he sat at table 
in a Pharisee's house, a woman, who was a sinner, 
prostrated herself in his presence, and bathed his 
feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 
She was spurned by the Pharisee ; but Jesus said, 
^' Her sins, which are many, are forgiven her ; for 
she hath loved much." ' Once, when he happened 
to be in the temple, the Pharisees brought to him a 
woman convicted of a mortal crime. He addressed 
an indirect rebuke to them, which compelled them 
to retire with shame ; and then, turning to the 
guilty woman, he said, " Where are those thine ac- 
cusers? Doth no man condemn thee? JSTeither 
do I condemn thee ; go, and sin no more." * Sin- 
gularly gracious, forgiving, and loving was that 
voice which once was heard in the temple and the 
streets of Jerusalem, and which woke up the 

1 Luke, xxiii. 28. .2 John, zi. 35- 

3 Luke, vii. 47. 4 John, viii. U, 



84 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

eclioes on the shore of tlie Lake of Galilee. It lias 
long since died away, but not the living force of 
love whick inspired it. That yet lingers in the 
ancient words which survive to this day. 

III. Simplicity very strikingly marked the public 
appearances of Christ. He was perfectly unaffected 
and inartificial. It will be difficult to find in the 
Gospels, even a seeming indication of disingenuous- 
ness on his part. Ko latent wish was in his heart 
to conceal any circumstance connected with his ori- 
gin, his past history, or his present position, from 
the fear that it might be unfavorable to his reputa- 
tion and success. There was nothing in him like 
maneuvering, desire to create impression, gain in- 
fluence and produce effect. If men who are really 
great, or who would be thought great, contract 
eccentric habits, adopt a peculiar mode of living, 
select some wild and strange abode, affect a singular 
dress, or manner, or look, or tone of voice, w^e shall 
search in vain for such extravagances in him. He 
affected no singularity, he assumed no consequence ; 
his dress, his mode of living, and his speech contin- 
ued to be to the last those of the common people. 
He appeared before his countrymen simply as he 
was and had always been, not at all solicitous to 
adapt either his history or his modes to his altered 
position. 

Christ had no particular building, like the Jew- 
ish doctors, or the heathen philosophers, where he 



SIMPLICITF. 85 

delivered his instructions — no lyceum, grove, por- 
tico, or hall; and he had no fixed days and hours, 
for unfolding the different branches of his system. 
The ancient sages were accustomed to distinguish 
their public from their private prelections. Some 
things they uttered freely to all who applied to 
them ; but there were others which they reserved 
for the initiated — -doctrines peculiarly profound, or 
peculiarly sacred, and which required a long pre- 
paratory course before they could be appreciated 
and adopted. Perhaps this was a legitimate method 
of awakening interest and securing power ; perhaps 
it was even necessary; certainly its effect was to 
create a vast amount of influence, and to maintain 
in the public mind a high idea of the resources and 
the wisdom of these sages. Jesus spoke the same 
things to his disciples and to the people generally — 
to the few and the many. Whatever the character 
of his instructions might be, they were indifferently 
addressed to any sort of persons, any where, at any 
time. The most striking thoughts might be dis- 
closed to a single individual — a member of the 
sanhedrim, or a poor woman of Samaria, — or to 
many thousands in one assembly, or in a private 
house as he sat at table, or when he was walking, 
or when he was sitting wearied by Jacob's well, or 
on a mountain, or in the plain, or on the shore of 
a lake, or from a fishing-boat, or in a synagogue, 
or in one of the cloisters of the temple ; but always, 



86 THE CHRIST OF HiSTORY. 

simply as the occasion offered, witlioiit contrivance, 
without maneuver, or underhand motive. 

Christ composed no formal discourses, delivered 
no carefully constructed orations, but always spoke 
perfectly natural, making use of the commonest 
objects and incidents for illustration, just because 
they were near, and easily understood, and free to 
all. The lily, the corn-seed, the grain of mustard, 
the birds of the air, the falling of a tower, the rain, 
the appearances of the sky, these, and the like, 
gave occasion for the utterance of high and imper- 
ishable ideas. And the language in which these 
ideas were uttered was the language of the common 
people. No severe philosophical style did he adopt, 
no scientific formulae, did he introduce, no new 
terminology did he create, no rigid dialectic method 
did he pursue, no high and hard abstractions, and 
no close and elaborate argumentation did he affect. 
He conveyed his instructions in the most unpre- 
tending and informal manner, and in the common- 
est and simplest words. He owed literally nothing 
to phraseology, to modes, to circumstances. What- 
ever influence he acquired, and whatever power ho 
exerted, it was owing to simple reality ; in no de- 
gree to management, pretense, tact, or show. He 
did nothing — nor even seemed to wish — to suggest 
an idea for which there was not an actual basis, or 
to make the idea seem any other than the actual 
basis sustained. In his manner, his words, and his 



AUTHORITY. 87 

acts, lie was simply real, not more; not less, no 
other than he showed himself to be, so far, that is 
to say, as respected his earthly relations, for with 
tliem only we have to do here. He was pure, un- 
affected, inartificial realit}^ — ^his disciples maintain, 
the only perfectly simple reality that ever alighted 
on this earth. 

Simplicity is true greatness, it is moral nobility, 
and reveals a nature too pure and too genuine to 
endure deception or pretense. But was this likely 
to have been the taste, or if the taste, the attain- 
ment, of one in the circumstances of Jesus of Naz- 
areth, bad he been no more and no other than his 
external life disclosed ? 

Blending with the attribute of simplicity there 
was a mysterious 

lY. Authority^ which marked the public appear- 
ances of Christ. Those who listened to him often 
testified that " his word was with power." ^ " The 
people were astonished at his teaching, for he 
taught as one that had authority^ and not as the 
scribes."^ They questioned one another, saying, 
" Whence hath this man this wisdom?"^ On one 
occasion, certain officers sent by the Pharisees to 
apprehend him were arrested by his voice as he 
taught, were unable to execute the order, and re- 
turned, saying, " Never man spake like this man." 

1 Luke, iv. 32. « Matthew, vii. 29. 

3 Matthew, xiii. 64. * John, vii. 46. 



88 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

Whefher it was an air of majesty about his whole 
appearance, or his calm and earnest voice, or the 
depth and force of what he said, there was left on 
the minds of all who listened to him an impression 
of power more than human, which they found it 
impossible to resist. Perhaps the origin of this 
impression, at least in part, admits of some further 
explanation. In addition to any singularity in his 
ideas, or in his mode of conveying them, there 
were certain forms of expression which he was in 
the habit of using, and which were most startling 
and mysterious. This young man, from a remote 
and disreputable village, who had spent his life in 
manual labor, and had only lately appeared in pub- 
lic, not only claimed to possess an intimate ac- 
quaintance with spiritual truth, but he spoke in a 
way in which even the prophets of Israel had never 
dared to speak. His frequent style of address to 
his countrymen was this: "Yerily, verily, /say 
unto you," ''Ye have heard that it hath been said 

by them of old time but /say unto you."^ 

" Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will / 
do unto you." "^ " / appoint unto you a kingdom." ^ 
" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and / will give you rest. Take my yoke 
upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest 
to your souls."* We offer no interpretation of 

I Matthew, v. 41 2 John, xiv. 13. 

a Luke xxii. 29 * Matthew^, xi. 28, 28. 



I 



TESTIMONY OF HEARERS. 89 

these expressions at present, and we found no argu- 
ment on wliat may be conceived to be their natural 
import. It is enougb that they were uttered, and 
that they must have contributed to that impression 
which we have seen was felt so strongly by all who 
listened to Christ. "With, or without such passages, 
it is certain that an extraordinary authority and 
power accompanied his words ; and unless we add 
this element, we shall fail to reach a true concep- 
tion of what his appearances in public actually 
were. 

Aided, then, by the general views at which we 
have now arrived, let us thoughtfully follow Jesus 
in his wanderings through Galilee and Judsea, and 
look upon him in the village and the cit}^, on the 
mountain side and the lake, surrounded by a small 
and select company, or by a vast mixed multitude. 
Recalling all the facts of his early history and his 
outward condition up to the moment when he 
entered on his public course, our interest, almost 
anxiety, can not but be profound. What is there — 
we try to satisfy ourselves as we ask — what is 
there about his general spirit and manner as a public 
man, to distinguish him from others? Without 
regarding at present either the subjects which he 
selects, or his method of treating them, we ask, 
what is the general impression left on the mind of 
his qualities as a teacher? Are there manifest 
signs of his origin and previous condition, marks 



90 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

of servility and timidity, traces even of coarseness 
and vulgarity, evident proofs of inexperience and 
youth.? There are not. On the contrary, while 
Jesus always speaks with transparent honesty, we 
find among the qualities which especially marked 
him, now a terrible severity, and again, more fre- 
quently, a surpassing tenderness, as if his soul was 
a deep fountain of compassion for man ; now an 
unaffected simplicity, in appearance, in language, 
and in manner, and again, a power more than 
human, irresistible by those that listened to him. 

And was this verily a young man just taken 
firom the carpenter's workshop, uneducated, inex- 
perienced, and friendless ? It was. But if so, was 
he only this and no more ? 

A more decisive reply to this question, and 
from a higher region of thought than we have yet 
ascended, may perhaps be found. Christ's teach- 
ing itself may convert into certainty the conjecture 
which even his marked qualities as a teacher sug- 
gest. The words that fell from him, the spiritual 
doctrines which he revealed, may throw fresh light 
on his origin, and irresistibly lift our faith above 
the mere outward history which belonged to him. 
The inquiry, at all events, is worth whatever pains 
can be bestowed upon it, and it must be conducted 
with candor and with patience, q 



PART IV. 

HIS TEACHING. 
CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY GENERAL VIEWS. 

The medium through which the teaching of 
Christ is presented to the world, is very singular 
in its character. His disciples can not appeal to 
any work from the hands of their Master, con- 
structed for the purpose of giving a full and sys- 
tematic exposition of his doctrines. ISTor did the 
Master, in default of such a work from his own 
hand, select for this high task one of the most gift- 
ed of those who were attached to his person, and 
prepare him, by a special course of instruction for 
accomplishing the task with success. The Arabian 
prophet committed, to writings dictated by himself, 
those views which he wished should be connected 
with his name. The writings of Epictetus, Seneca, 
and the later Stoics, yet extant, contain a fall ex- 
hibition of the ethical and divine philosophy of 
that remarkable school. Socrates has found histo- 



92 THE CHEIST OF HISTOEY 

rians and expositors of his peculiar teaclimg in two 
of the most accomplished and able of his disciples, 
Plato and Xenophon. Even the Chinese patri- 
arch, Confucius, who lived long prior to the cap- 
tivity of the Jews in Babylon, left in his own 
writings — ^if the opinion of competent scholars may 
be relied on — an authentic account of the principles 
and laws which he sought to establish among his 
countrymen. But there is no book by Christ him- 
self, or by any of his disciples, devoted to a formal 
and extended exposition of his personal teachiDg. 
Our knowledge of this must be gathered from a 
a few set discourses and a few parables, from pri- 
vate conversations, and from incidental remarks, 
which discourses, and parables, and conversations, 
and remarks are scattered, manifestly without any 
rigid regard to order, over the narrative of a life, 
itself full of intense interest. This narrative, again, 
is presented in four different parts, by four different 
hands, at different periods. Each of these parts, as 
might be expected, contains much which is also 
found in the others ; and if all the repetitions were 
expunged, the entire record of Christ's life would 
be reduced to a few pages. Within this small com- 
pass, and forming only a little part of it, lie the 
whole of the materials which make up the only ac- 
count which has come down to us of the substance 
of Christ's personal teaching. 

It is not to be expected, under all these disad- 



RECOED OF CHRIST'S TEACHING. 93 

vantages, that a ministry extending over no more 
tlian three years, can have sent down to the world 
a legacy of spiritual truth at all to be compared 
with what the world has received from other quar- 
ters. Such an expectation is the very last which 
could enter the mind of one who should look into 
the Gospels for the first time, without prepossession 
and without previous information. What can a 
mere youth, a poor, uneducated, inexperienced and 
friendless Grallilean mechanic, have said to the 
world which deserved the world's attention ? Let 
us hear ! if with caution, also with impartiality. 

It must be distinctly understood in the outset 
that whatever spiritual truths are taught in the 
Gospels, their authorship shall here be attributed 
without scruple to Jesus of Nazareth. It was inti- 
mated at the earlier stage of this investigation that 
there was incomparably greater difficulty in sup- 
posing that the Christ of the Gospels was an ideal 
creation, existing nowhere but in the minds of such 
men as the Evangelists, than in supposing that 
they had only represented a real living being, and 
were able to represent him in the manner they 
have done, because they had actually seen him. 
The argument is the same in kind, which we now 
apply to a particular department in the life of 
Christ. It is every way more natural and less diffi- 
cult to conceive that such men as the Evangelists 
were, merely record what they had actually heard 



94: THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

from tlie lips of Jesus, tban to imagine that tlie 
ideas wLicli they express were the growth of their 
own minds. It may be assumed, as beyond any 
reasonable doubt, that the fountain of all the spirit- 
ual truths contained in the Gospels was the mind 
of Jesus Christ. 

What, then, are the spiritual truths which are 
clearly and undeniably taught in the Gospels? 
Without attaching importance to every word and 
every occasional expression, without straining and 
forcing the language, and contending for all which 
it might be possible to prove lies in it, we seek now 
to give prominence only to so much as, it can not 
be doubted by any dispassionate reader, it con- 
tains. 

We enter on this investigation with a feeling of 
deep solemnity and with conscious singleness of 
purpose, seeking not to exaggerate in any thing, 
but rather to understate the results of impartial 
inquiry, and desirous that whatever is here asserted, 
respecting the substance of Christ's teaching, should 
be severely tested by an appeal to the Gospels 
themselves. 

It could serve no good purpose to notice all the 
subjects of secondary importance on which the 
mind of Christ may have been incidentally express- 
ed. His views of civil society, of the relative du- 
ties of rulers and subjects, of poverty and wealth, 
and of the two conditions of human beings repre- 



SUMMARY OF HIS TEACHING. 95 

gented by these opposite names ; his counsels, 
marked by deep sagacity and unbending principle, 
uttered in many various circumstances, addressed 
to bis disciples, to single individuals, or to classes 
of persons ; bis inculcation of duties religious, civil, 
social, personal ; bis faithful warnings to the un- 
thinking, the insincere, the vicious ; his words of 
sympathy and consolation to the afflicted and de* 
sponding — all these may be passed by without inju- 
ry to our argument. Leaving them, therefore, we 
shall attempt to produce, as faithfully and succinct- 
ly as we can. 



One who for the first time should intelligently 
examine the Christian Gospels, could not fail to be 
struck with the idea manifestly underlying their 
whole extent, and often lifted up into singular prom- 
inence, of a Universal Spiritual Eeign, by the 
name of ''the kingdom (or reign) of Grod" — "the 
kingdom (pr reign) of heaven." Such a man would 
certainly reach the conviction that Jesus taught in 
a very unpretending, but at the same time a very 
intelligible manner ; that the human race, without 
distinction of Gentile and Jew, were destined to 
the highest spiritual elevation, of which their na- 
ture and their condition on earth admitted. The 
Tioticeable fact is, that the youthful Galilean carpen- 



96 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

ter was alone in this teaching, and tliat no otheT 
mind before had risen to such views of the destiny 
of man on earth. Eighteen hundred years ago this 
divine thought first became a living word among 
men, and it has never perished since, and the world 
at this day is only laboring to work out the old idea 
of the Grospels. Conflicting theories of human pro- 
gress — of the emancipation of man's intellect and 
heart — of his deliverance from ignorance, error, 
vice, and suffering — and of the advancement of 
knowledge and freedom^ and individual and social 
happiness — find their root here. The first concep- 
tion is due to the mind of Jesus Christ, and in his 
teaching, the conception is presented, not vaguely 
and confusedly, but with luminous precision. It is 
the reign of God in men, when the Father of minds 
shall be known, loved, and revered by his children. 
It is the reign of righteousness, purity, truth, love, 
and peace, the universal reception and dominion 
among men of aU true, just, holy, generous and di- 
vine principles. It is the highest stage of religious, 
moral, intellectual, social, and individual cultivation. 
It is the noblest development possible on this earth of 
all the attributes and capabilities of humanity. It is 
spiritual victory after the battle of thousands of 
ages. It is the triumph of good and of God over 
moral and physical evil I The idea originated with 
Christ, was matured in his mind, and was freely 
imparted in his teaching. His soul, during its so- 



SUMMAEY OF HIS TEACHING. 97 

joTirn below, bestowed this imperisbable tbougbt 
and kindled tbis inextinguisbable bope. He first 
cast tbis immortal germ, " tbe seed of tbe king- 
dom," into tbe bosom of tbe eartb : wbat produce 
it sball yield, tbe world is jet waiting to bebold. 

Tbe doctrine of an universal spiritual reign 
opens to us anotber witb wbicb it stands closely 
connected. It is tbis, tbat tbe great battle of tbe 
world and of all time is witb sin ; not witb suffer- 
ing so mucb, as witb tbat wbicb is tbe cause of all 
suffering — witb moral evil, tbe root and source of 
pbysical evil. Tbe Cbristian Gospels are distin- 
guisbed by tbe frequent and vivid representation of 
sin as a deep and deadly evil in tbe beart, as vol- 
untary departure from rectitude, from purity, from 
trutb, from love — in one word, from God, separa- 
tion from Him in tbougbt, affection, and will. 
Particular crimes — falsebood, impurity, revenge, 
avarice, ambition, and tbe like — are sometimes sin- 
gled out for special reprebension ; but, more fre- 
quently, tbe parent source of crime in all its forms 
is declared and exposed. Tbe greatness of tbe 
evil stands out witb appalling distinctness ; its de- 
basing and polluting nature also, and its plague-like 
power of self-propagation and perpetuation. In 
tbe teacbing of Cbrist, sin is an undoubted and 
awful reality, tbe bitter cause of all tbat afflicts and 
crusbes tbe world, tbe deatb of tbe buman body, 
tbe perdition of tbe buman soul. 

6 



98 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

The forgiveness of sin is as real in tlie Gospels, 
as its existence and its atrocity. The doctrine ap- 
pears in a more expanded form in the Apostolic 
Letters ; and there its nature, its basis, and its limi- 
tations are stated with greater variety of language, 
and its different aspects are set forth by a multitude 
of figures borrowed from the ancient Jewish wor- 
ship. But its importance and truth are clearly 
taught in the words of Christ. The nature of God, 
the perfections of his Being, and his relation to his 
earthly creatures, are so exhibited as to render for- 
giveness sure, and clear as sunhght. He who is 
true, and just, and holy, is also ineffably gracious : 
the burdened soul, crying for emancipation from 
evil, and trusting in God, has perfect assurance of 
pardon. The foundations of this fact yet wanted a 
flood of light which the Cross was to pour down 
upon them, and it was to be made yet more mani- 
fest how necessary and how glorious a thing God 
deemed it to be to forgive sin, and how intensely, 
how infinitely interested he was in this issue. But 
the certainty of forgiveness from God — unlimited 
and free forgiveness— was lifted up on high, one of 
the divinest lights in the public life of Jesus. 

Pardon of sin — not as a doctrine merely, or even 
as an object of hope, but as an experience, a fact 
realized in the soul — supposes the reunion of man 
with God, and is the living germ of all spiritual 
excellence. The first necessity of man is the recog- 



SUMMARY OF HIS TEACHING. 1^9 

nition of tlie highest of all his relations, his relation 
to God, the parent virtue is faith — ^faith in the be- 
ing of God, in his character, and his government. 

There arises the doctrine of Providence, connect- 
ing every moment of our earthly life, and every 
event with the Supreme Power, and with an invis- 
ible world. It is seen that there are vast spiritual 
laws which overspread and enwrap the universe ; 
sin is deaih^ holiness is salvation. These laws are in 
harmony with the will of God, but they are eternal 
and immutable in themselves; not arbitrary ap- 
pointments, not originated by God, but founded in 
the unchangeable nature of things. These laws are 
what they are, hy necessity^ and never were, and 
never can be other than they are. Amid the sway 
of these eternal laws, guiding their administration 
and reigning supremely over all, is the great God. 
Spiritual providence is his government of the 
world, by these laws, and in the exercise of all his 
infinite attributes. It is universal, minute, unsl um- 
bering : it is wise, it is holy, it is merciful : it is for, 
not against, the good ; always for the good, putting 
down evil, protecting, nourishing, helping every 
thing that is good; bringing forth the largest 
amount of good with the smallest admixture of 
evil. It is terrible only to evil; it invites to reli- 
ance and hope. 

The doctrine of Prayer harmonizes with that of 
Providence. It rests on the fact of our dependence 



100 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

on God, on tlie belief of our intimate connection 
with the invisible world, and on the deep longing 
for spiritual communion which springs from the 
conviction, that God is to us the most real and the 
most near of all beings. Prayer is not an instru- 
ment for altering the purposes or moving the heart 
of God, or for procuring the suspension of the ordi- 
nary course of nature ; but it is one of the natural 
modes in which piety utters itself — ^in which it 
wants, for its own sake, to utter itself. It is a part 
of worship, one of the proper forthgoings of the 
created to the uncreated mind. True worship is 
within the soul. Whatever be its separate acts 
and its outward manifestations, its essence and its 
place are wholly spiritual. It is knowledge, ven- 
eration, trust, love. 
I Piety toward God is the basis of all moral ex- 
■ cellence ; and it is a noble pile of virtues which is 
erected on this basis, in the teaching of Jesus. 
Common and acknowledged excellences — integri- 
ty, truthfulness, purity, temperance, justice — find 
their due place here ; but, in addition to these, 
there are elements either altogether or almost 
unknown elsewhere — humility, meekness, forgive- 
ness, self-denial, love to enemies. It is not only 
taught here that we should love others as we love 
ourselves, and do to them as we would have them 
do to us, but it is inculcated that the reigning prin- 
ciple in the soul must be a universal and genuine 



SPIEITUAL EEIGN ON EARTH. 101 

good-will, a deep desire to produce happiness, to 
put down evil, and to do only good to every living 
being. Our enjoyments, possessions, and imme- 
diate interests — every thing except our piety and 
virtue — must yield to this spirit of love. No evil 
conduct in any being, no personal wrongs we may 
have suffered at his hands, must be allowed to ex- 
tinguish the desire to bless even him. "We are 
commanded to requite evil with good, and to love 
our enemies. Virtue is the burning and deep de- 
sire, cherished, in spite of every thing, to do only 
good ; it is sacrifice and service for others. The 
life of Christ, his disciples assert — with what truth 
we may be better able hereafter to judge — was a 
perfect realization of his teachmg, au extended act 
of sacrifice and service, the living image on earth 
of the invisible God. The Divine nature is love ; 
eternal, infinite desire to spread blessedness. Jesus 
proclaims that human virtue in its foundation and 
its essence is represented by one word — ^love ; love 
to God and to man ; not a mere emotion, effeminate 
and enervating, a sign and a cause of weakness, 
but an enlightened, masculine, resolute and su- 
preme regard to the rights of God, and to the true 
interests of our fellow beings. He proclaims that 
this is the end of rational existence, the dignity, 
strength, and joy of the rational nature. This end 
reached, man is Godlike, a partaker of Divine na- 
ture, recreated in the image of his Father. 



102 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

Genuine, glowing, profound regard to God and 
to man is described as a Divine life in the human 
soul, an undying spark from tlie eternal fire, whicb, 
once enkindled, is never extinguislied. The origin 
of the Divine life — its supports, conflicts, and va- 
rying manifestations — are all set forth with sim- 
plicity and power. Spiritual truth is shown to be 
the aliment of the spiritual nature, " living bread," 
of which if a man eat he shall hunger no more ; 
"living water," of which if a man drink he shall 
thirst no more. Spiritual truth, understood, chosen, 
adopted into the soul, is the priceless good ; it is 
blessedness, freedom, power, and wealth ; it is pure, 
exalted, imperishable treasure. 

It can not be overlooked, that we have here, in a 
new form, the idea which at first we found to be 
the most prominent in the Gospel— the idea of a 
reign of God in the soul of man. The working out 
of this idea, in one or other of its forms, occupied 
the entire personal ministry of Christ. He lived 
for this, and for this he died, not to promulgate 
only, or to predict, but actually to found, a reign 
of righteousness, purity, truth, love, and peace, a 
spiritual kingdom of God among men. 

The rapid and condensed view of the teaching 
of Christ which has been presented, may be suffi- 
cient to help us to form a general conception of its 
character, but much more extended and particular 
acquaintance with it i«5 required for the purpose 



THEEE GREAT DOCTRINES. 103 

whicli we contemplate here. It is necessary to 
enter largely into detail, and to examine separately 
and fully at least the leading subjects of Christ's 
public ministrations. With this view, we now ] 
turn to the three great doctrines which are an- ; 
nounced in the Gospels ; — the doctrine of the Soul, ! 
the doctrine of God, and the doctrine of the Kecon* 
ciliation of the Soul and God. » 



CHAPTER II. 

OF THE SOUL. 
§ I. THE soul's reality AND GREATNESS. 

On the very threslaold of this subject we are 
arrested by the humiliating necessity of confessing 
ignorance. That which formed one of the high 
themes of Christ's teaching — ^the soul — is absolute- 
ly unknown, so far as respects its distinctive essence 
and nature. At the same time the ignorance thus 
confessed is not peculiar to this region of thought, 
for that which we call matter, and which is imme- 
diately and constantly before our senses, is as little 
understood as that which lies beyond the reach of 
sense, and which we call soul or spirit. Is there 
then any real distinction between the two? is there 
in the nature of man an actual element answering 
to the word spuitual, something distinct from and 
higher than the material organization? This is 
the question which has hardened and troubled the 
ages ; and up to this day the only reply to it which 
at all satisfies the reason, and furnishes ground for 
an enlightened faith, is that which finds in the soul 



THE soul's reality. 105 

itself its own proper evidence. The spirituality of 
man we hold, to be a primitive truth, an original 
intuition, which the same mighty hand that formed 
our nature at the first, planted within it and made 
an integral part of it. Whether the appeal be 
made by each individual to his own consciousness, 
or whether he take the wider range of his personal 
observation; or whether he search into the history 
of nations, whether he limit investigation to his 
own times, or extend it back into the past ages, we 
hold that the conclusion we have named is the 
only one which finally commends itself, as legiti- 
mate and consistent. One thing is certain, that the 
reasonings of the past ages, apart from intuition^ 
have not conducted men to a clear, uniform, and 
decisive result. The region has proved too pro- 
found and too dark for feeble and limited beings 
to explore, and the human intellect has returned 
from the search after evidence, bewildered and op- 
pressed. At the same time, justice demands the 
confession that the intuitional proof is by no means 
in all respects unexceptionable. It is often ex- 
tremely difficult to reach the true voice of human 
nature as it is constituted by God, and to read the 
native, spontaneous verdict of the soul in reference 
to itself. There are most painful discrepancies and 
confusions, and the testimony admits of being woe- 
fully corrupted and even altogether suppressed. 
The fact is not to be denied, that the nations and 
5* 



106 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

the ages have not agreed, and do not now perfectly 
agree, in one energetic response to the question of 
the soul's reality, as distinct from the material or- 
ganization. On the one hand, we can not shut our 
eyes to reckless skepticism in some, and to sensual- 
ism and moral debasement in many more ; and on 
the other hand, there are tokens without number 
of laborious yet fruitless speculations of deep and 
unsatisfied longings, of dark conjectures and of 
torturing fears. The light kindled by God in the 
soul has had to struggle for its preservation and its 
purity. The voice of man's nature has always 
come up amid the clamor of other and hostile 
sounds. That voice has not been listened to ; 
sometimes it has been so long unheeded, that at 
length it has ceased to make itself heard at all. 
Even where it has been distinctly recognized, men 
have shrunk back from the dif&culties and the mys- 
teries to which it seemed to conduct. The idea of 
a spirit inhabiting the body is hard to be under- 
stood ; the origin of the spirit, the nature of its 
connection with the body, its laws and its destinies 
— all are mysterious and abstruse. It is much more 
easy to believe that man is what the senses teach 
concerning him, and no more; it is even more 
agreeable^ on some accounts, to believe only this, and 
it becomes even more agreeable as the mental and 
especially the moral condition deteriorates. Faith 
in any thing beyond the senses becomes more and 



IITDIFFERENCE TO SOUL. 107 

more unwelcome and unlikely, and at last is mor- 
ally impossiblQ 

Without consulting tlie history of remote ages 
and of distant lands, our own times will supply 
evidence sufficiently extended on this subject, and 
our own country will furnisli instances the coun- 
terpart of which, we need not doubt, can be found 
in all other regions of the earth. Among our- 
selves, there are human beings that scarcely know 
that they have a soul. A faint echo of the divine 
voice may still linger in these sunken natures, and 
it may never be absolutely impossible to awaken 
them and to make them catch the dying sound, 
but virtually they live on as if that voice had 
never been uttered, and as if no echo of it lingered 
within them. These beings, from their birth up- 
ward, have put forth no powers but those of their 
bodies, and have conversed only with the objects 
of sense. The external world alone — the labors, 
interests, attractions, duties, and wants which be- 
long to it — ^has successfully appealed to them. 
There has been every thing to deaden the sense 
of a higher nature, little to awaken and stimulate 
it. The struggle to provide for daily necessities, 
and still more the indulgence of low sensual appe- 
tites and confirmed habits of vice, have rendered 
every thing connected with a spiritual world un- 
congenial and alarming. In this way, multitudes 
among us are scarcely ever disturbed by the 



108 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

tliouglitj tliat tliey have a soul. Thej think only 
of the body and of the outward world, and are ut- 
ter strangers to their rational and responsible na- 
ture and to their solemn destiny. They have lost 
all sense of the dignity, the duties, the power, and 
the worth which belongs to them. For human 
beings in this condition, the very first necessity is 
to know themselves, and the very highest boon 
which it is possible to bestow on them is a knowl- 
edge of themselves. 

Jesus came to the world with this boon in his 
hand, at a time when the soul was awfully un- 
known. An age of marvelous intellectual activity, 
of high cultivation, and of abundant produce, of its 
kind, scarcely believed in the soul. A few of the 
more privileged and gifted minds, a few wise and 
earnest men, longed for inward light, and they 
found it in measure; but to the world generally 
the soul was almost unknown. Even in Judea, 
gross materialism had darkened and enervated re- 
ligion. It seemed to be imagined that the service 
of God needed no intellect, no conscience, no heart, 
no spiritual nature, but only eyes, hands, lips, fea- 
tures of the countenance, movements of the body. 
To Jews and Gentiles, the soul in its real greatness, 
in its noble attributes, in its vast capacities, and in 
its high destinies, was practically unknown. There 
was needed, if not a revealer of what was new, a 



JESUS EEVEALS IT. 109 

restorer of what had long been all but lost, a quick- 
ener of wbat lay dead and buried. 

Who shall stand forth to tell to man that he has 
a soul? Who shall redeem the birthright so vilely 
cast awaj, and lift up in the sight of all nations 
the forgotten, forsaken, dishonored mind? Who 
shall read aloud the handwriting of God on the 
nature of man, restore the text once so fairly in- 
scribed, clear it from all false glosses, all various 
readings, all mistakes and blots? Who shall give 
back to the world the Divine original, after the in- 
terpolations and corruptions of a thousand ages? 
Jesus of Kazareth has done nothing less than this. 
In his teaching may be found the reality (and not 
less the greatness, the accountability, and the end- 
less life) of the soul, revealed with a luminousness 
and a fullness, for which we look in vain elsewhere. 

There is no formal exposition in the recorded 
sayings of Christ of the doctrine of the soul, its 
origin, its nature, its union with the body, its 
powers^ its laws, and its fate. None of these form 
the subject of elaborate argumentation, or of bril- 
liant discussion. There is no array of evidences 
on the one hand, and no enumeration and refuta- 
tion of errors on the other hand. Nothing like 
proof is ever attempted. Jesus spoke to men, as 
if he knew that they did not need proof, and that 
they* already had within them the highest proof, ol 
which the subject admitted. He spoke of the soul, 



110 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

as of a truth already ascertained and indisputable, 
which, however, men had wickedly excluded from 
their minds. He spoke like one whose office was 
to announce that of which they ought not to have 
been ignorant, and to remind them of that which 
they never ought to have forgotten. His method. 
was direct appeal to the nature of man — clear sol- 
emn appeal, in a matter of which he left themselves 
to be the judges. His ministry was a proclamation 
of all places, circumstances, and connections, of the 
doctrine of the soul. Underneath all his teachings 
this doctrine lies ; closely interwoven with them, 
directly suggested by them, often conspicuously 
standing out from them. He would have the 
world know and believe that there is a spiritual 
nature in man, an invisible, precious part of his 
being, and that the forgotten soul is a profound, a 
universal reality. All times, all nations, all condi- 
tions, rich and poor, bond and free, alike are distin- 
guished in this respect ; it is the birthright of all, 
the common inheritance of man. The reality of the 
soul was involved in His doctrine of a reign of God ; 
in that of sin and that of pardon : in that of re- 
ligion, since its place and its essence alike are 
spiritual ; in that of prayer and that of worship ; 
in that of piety toward God, and in that of human 
virtue. His entire teaching rests on the basis of 
man's spiritual nature, and without this would be 
utterly unmeaning. His ministry was a voice to 



ORiaiN OF SOUL. Ill 

the world, on behalf of the soul, familiarizing the 
lost idea, and pleading for its restoration. 

The mechanism of the body is curious and mys- 
terious, the earth around and the skies above are 
full of wonders, the present life has its interests, 
attractions, and noble uses ; but there is that within 
man to which, not in the frame of the body, nor in 
the structure of the visible creation, nor in the 
machinery of the present life, any resemblance can 
be found. Christ's voice proclaimed the soul ; and 
amid the degradation, the profound torpor, and the 
guilty self-abandonment of the world, the sound 
was renewed and prolonged. The soul ! the soul 1 
And that whose heing was thus heralded, was in it- 
self truly great. Its origin exalts it marvelously. 
The offspring of God, and bearing on it the image 
of the Father, the soul is great. Its attributes, in- 
comparably higher than any which reside in mat- 
ter, make it great. Its vast capacities, also, and, 
most of all, its immortal destiny, make it great. In 
the Gospels, the soul is often contrasted with earthly 
things, and lifted up above them all. The words 
of Jesus are framed to convey to the bosom of a 
man a solemn assurance, and to create a deep con- 
viction of his unutterable worth. As a matter of 
fact, they have done this in the most unpromising 
circumstances, and have effected what all other 
agency fails to effect. The ignorant, the unculti- 
vated, and the vicious, have been taught by them 



112 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

to reverence tbemselves, and to recognize the sa- 
credness of their o\Yn being. In the teaching of 
Christ, the soul is the man, and determines his posi- 
tion ia the scale of existence ; not the body, not 
outward possessions, not social rank, not any thing 
visible, not any thing connected only with the pres- 
ent world; but the spiritual nature, its powers, 
principles, and moral condition. The soul is the 
man ; in it are all his reaZ distinctions, all his worth, 
Ms dignity, and his happiness ; there lies his char- 
acter in the universe, there his whole being for good 
or for evil — there and nowhere else. The Grospels 
do not assist us in defining and comprehending the 
essence of spirit, or in solving the hard questions 
of metaphysics respecting the connection between 
matter and mind, how the latter acts upon and 
through the former, and is in turn constantly affect- 
ed by it. But they have filled the world with a 
most blessed sound ; there is a soul in man, and the 
soul is, beyond expression, great and precious. 



§ II. — THE soul's accountability AND IMMOR- 
TALITY. 

Accountability belongs only to the rational 
and moral nature, and it belongs to this, of neces- 
sity. A river flows on in its course ; but whether 
rapidly or slowly, in a wide or narrow stream, and 
with clear or troubled waters, it flows unconscious- 



GROUNDS OF RESPONSIBILITY. 113 

ij and without meriting either praise or blame. 
The tree strikes its roots and spreads its branches; 
but we attribute to it no virtue ; and when it with- 
ers and perishes, we charge it with no crime. The 
animal frame is sound and healthy, or it is attacked 
by disease, or is struck dovfn by sudden accident, 
or seems to sink of itself; but no judgment is 
passed upon it, as if it deserved either commenda- 
tion or condemnation. The irrational creature 
walks, flies, creeps, or swims; it seeks its food in 
the herb of the field, or it preys upon some other 
form of life in order to sustain its own ; but neither 
good nor evil is asserted of it on these accounts. 
The river, the tree, the bocli\7 framq^do not act, 
but are acted upon. Consciousness, intelligence, 
volition, are wanting to them. They are only jj 
what they are made, and as they are affected by 
circumstances, over which they can exert no con- 
trol. Even the living creature, though a voluntary 
agent in certain respects, is under the irresistible 
law of instinct, and has no sense of God and of 
right and wrong to govern its choice. 

The spiritual nature of man belongs to quite 
another order of existence. It is not passive mere- 
ly, but active; and its activity is not instinctive 
merely, but intelligent and voluntary. Here is 
Eeason, here Conscience, here Will, the royal 
power in the soul, the presiding judge in the in- 
ward tribunal, who hears what the understanding, 



114 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

the affections, the inclinations, and appetites, and, 
above all, the conscience, have to saj, and there- 
after chooses and resolves. Here is the soul's 
power of self-determination. It is not compelled, 
not placed under irresistible laws like those of in- 
stinct; it is constituted to choose and refuse for 
itself. The entire doctrine of responsibility is in- 
volved in this fact. If the acts of the soul were at 
any time involuntary, or compulsory, and not the 
effect of its determination and free choice, it would 
be thus far blameless and meritless ; but they can 
not be so. What the soul is, and does, it chooses 
to be, and do ; and it is, therefore, and to this ex- 
tent, responsible. The waters of the river, the 
leaves and fruit of the tree, the condition of the 
human body, and the movements of the irrational 
creature, have in them neither moral goodness nor 
moral evil; but the thoughts, affections, tastes, 
principles, purposes, and choices of the soul origi- 
nate with itself, spring out of its will, and render 
it the proper object of commendation, or of repre- 
hension. 



Oftener, perhaps, than under any other aspect, 
Jesus represents the human soul as exposed to 
that Eye which unerringly perceives all its evil 
and its good, and he teaches that therefore there is 
unutterable solemnity in every act of the spiritual 
nature, and that what a man thinks, feels, resolves, 
or does, is the gravest of all questions. The lesson 



IMMATERIALITY AND IMMORTALITY. 115 

is forever true ; we need to feel that we can never 
for a moment escape tlie immutable law, " Sin is 
death; holiness is salvation." The God of the 
spiritual universe is forever looking upon us, and 
his sentence is pronounced for us, or against us. 
The doctrine of the last judgment is one of the 
many forms of the doctrine of responsibility. The 
parable of the ten virgins, of the laborers in the 
vineyard, of the steward, of the talents, of the hus- 
bandmen, of the wheat and the tares, of the barren 
fig-tree, are so many varied representations of this 
overwhelming truth. The scrutiny of God is lik- 
ened to the process of fanning and sifting wheat, 
or to that of dissolving and testing metals. The 
perfect rectitude of the Judge, and his perfect, 
knowledge of the innumerable peculiarities of each 
case are declared. The universality and the mi- 
nuteness of the reckoning which will be taken, are 
foreshown. Every secret thought, it is af&rmed, 
and every idle word will be brought into judgment. 
This spiritual nature of man makes even his short 
residence on earth awfully solemn, and invests 
every moment with everlasting interest. Self-in- 
spection, watchfulness, and prayer, become the first 
duty of beings constituted as we are, endowed with 
conscience, reason, and will — ^beings, besides, who 
are destined to an existence, of which the present 
earthly life is only the commencement and the 
promise. 



116 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

It is often assumed that immateriality involves 
immortality. It does involve indivisibility — ^the 
immaterial is tlie indivisible ; but whether indi-\ds- 
ibility and immortality are synonymous may admit 
of some doubt. Matter is made up of parts ; it is 
capable from its nature of being decompounded 
and dissolved. But are we quite sure that decom- 
position and dissolution are destruction-^are we 
not rather sure that they are not? Does not all 
the evidence on this subject which we possess sus- 
tain the conclusion that matter is not destroyed — ■ 
that, though its parts are separated and its form 
changed, it is not destroyed, not annihilated ? If, 
then, we can not argue destructibility from divisi- 
bility in the case of matter, it is palpably fallacious 
to rest the proof of indestructibility in the case of 
mind, on indivisibility, that is immateriality. The 
soul is imperishable, but the certainty of this 
must not be grounded on the fact that it is imma- 
terial and indivisible. The self-action and self- 
government of mind exalt it immeasurably above 
unconscious matter, and above all animal instincts 
and faculties. Its intellectual, and especially its 
moral. powers, its unlimited capacities, and its lofty 
aspirations, create a strong presumption that it is 
formed for a higher destiny than they. But a 
strong presumption is not positive proof. 

The absolute certainty of the soul's eternal exist- 
ence is distinctlv affirmed by Christ; but the ground 



PERDITION OF SOUL. 117 

of this certainty is shown to be not so mucli its 
immaterial nature as its moral condition. In Christ's 
teaching, holiness and holy being are immortal ; 
godhness is immortal ; rectitude, purity, truth, love, 
are immortal ; and the soul in which these virtues 
dwell is an heir of eternal life : but that which has 
surrendered itself to ignorance, im^purity, and en- 
mity to good and to Grod, is an heir of eternal per- 
dition. Even on this earth, incipient spiritual per- 
dition may be awfully evident. There are instances 
even here of what may literally be called the soul's 
death, the death of intellect, heart, and conscience ; 
appalling examples of the effect of moral evil in 
darkening, enfeebling, imbruting the inward nature, 
so that it seems bereft of all its rational and moral 
powers. And it must not be forgotten that on 
earth there exist causes to draw forth the energies 
of the guilty soul, which can not operate hereafter. 
All good beings and all good shall hereafter be for- 
ever separated from evil beings. Evil shall here- 
after be alone, and alone shall develop its own 
rank and deadly nature, and exhibit its unmiti- 
gated effects. If this be true, and if evil beings 
shall be left absolutely alone in the midst only of 
evil, it is not hard to imagine that, in the progress 
of ages, they must become a terrible wreck, unut- 
terably worse than any thing which earth has ever 
witnessed, and shall furnish a tremendous and ever- 
lasting vindication of the language ''lost souls," 



118 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

" peri sKed minds," " fires quenched," "liglits gone 
out forever in the blackness of darkness." 

Jesus Christ teaches that sin is perdition ; not 
that at some future day it shall produce death, but 
that it is death. From first to last, throughout all 
its course, at every moment, moral evil is only 
death. Unless it be extirpated, the soul can only 
die ; it may exist in the sense of simply heing^ but 
it is really dying rather than living ; and forever, 
its existence is a death, a process of perdition, 
whose final issue lies behind an impenetrable vail. 
But life is the destiny of that nature which has 
been emancipated from moral evil. There is a 
holier and mightier vitality than that of the ani- 
mal frame, or even than the physical life of the 
mind ; that is, its power to think, feel, and resolve. 
There is a life of life to man. God is the spring 
of pure being. Separated from him by ignorance 
or false views, by conscious guilt, distrust, and en- 
mity, the soul carries in it the seeds of death, and |- 1 
in order to live, it must be restored to God, and i | 
God must be restored to it, to its knowledge, con- 
fidence, and love. It is this life of Ood in man '■ 
which Christ's gospel teaches is eternal ; which not 
only shall never be extinguished, but is essentially 
and necessarily immortal. On earth, in heaven, 
any where, every where, throughout the universe, 
this is the eternal life ; the only eternal life known 
io Christianity — union or reunion of the created 



LIFE BEOUGHT TO LIGHT. 119 

mind with. God. It is this which shall survive un- 
injured the separation of soul and body. That 
separation shall not harm the nobler being, but the 
spiritual faculties shall be improved instead of being 
enfeebled by the crisis through which they have 
passed ; and the life of life within, unscathed, un 
touched, shall find itself in a new and genial 
sphere, with eternity for its irreversible inheritance. 
The soul's endless being is intelligence, rectitude, 
purity, love, and all goodness. 

This is brought to light by the G-ospel, but no- 
where else. *' The gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord," ^ God so loved the world 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believed on him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life.""^ "God's commandment is life ever- 
lasting.'"' " To whom shall we go," said the disci- 
ples to Jesus, "thou hast the words of eternal 
life ?" * " This is life eternal, that they might know 
thee the only true God," etc/ " He that receiveth 
my words hath everlasting life." " The words of 
Christ are likened to a " well of water springing 
up to everlasting life." ' " Thy brother shall rise 
again," Jesus said to Martha, when her brother 
Lazarus lay in the tomb. She replied, "I know 
that he shall rise again in the resurrection, at the 
last day. Jesus answered, He that belie veth on 

» Komans, vi. 23. 2 joim^ jii, jg. s lb. xii. 50. 

* lb. vi. 68. 6 lb. xvii. 3. « lb, v. 24. ^ lb. iv. U. 



r' 



120 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and 
he that liveth and belie veth on me shall never 
die."^ Thus impressively and majestically did 
Christ announce the Divine life in the soul of man, 
a life unhurt by the death of the body, and of im- 
mortal duration. If the miracle of the raising of 
Lazarus be counted for nothing, at least on some 
occasion of bereavement, words of this import, 
words of unexampled simplicity, dignity, and 
strength fell from Christ's lips. Beside the graves 
of men, and at their festive boards, on all occasions 
Christ proclaimed the Soul I It is real ! it is great ! 
it is accountable ! it is immortal ! The body shall 
die. The earth and these heavens shall pass away ; 
but the Soul endures forever, in Life or in Per- 
dition 1 ^ 

^ 1 John, xi 26. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF GOD. 

§ I. THE SPIRITUALITY, UNITY, AND MORAL PERFECTION 

OF GOD. 

The age in which Christ appeared, fearfally dark 
as it was, was yet not content to abide in darkness. 
Even then there were burdened hearts that did 
earnestly seek after God, and a piercing cry was 
lifted up from the depths of paganism for the true 
light of Heaven. Jesus came to respond to that 
cry, to quiet the troubled bosom of man, and to 
bring to his knowledge the only object of worship 
and of love. To reveal God. is a still higher office 
than to make known the soul. The doctrine' of 
God is the foundation of all religion. Every sys- 
tem of religion must have a god, and the character 
of the religion corresponds necessarily with the 
character of the god — ^is, indeed, wholly determined 
by this, and will be material or spiritual, feeble or 
powerful, pure or corrupt, degrading or elevating, 
cruel or benignant, just as the Being for whom it 
claims the veneration of men recedes from absolute 
excellence, or approaches it. 



122 THE CHKIST OF HISTOKY. 

It formed no part of the work of Jesus to demon' 
strate the being of God to the world. The "• a pri- 
ori" and " a posteriori" proofs on this subject, as 
well as the historical proof grounded in the alleged 
consent of all past ages and of all nations, find no 
place in the Grospels. No trace of the argument 
from the work to the worker, from the contrivance 
to the contriver, from the marks of intelligence 
and design in the visible universe to an all-design- 
ing mind, is discoverable here. The old hypoth- 
esis of the eternity of the universe is not combated, 
nor that of the everlasting concourse of atoms in 
immensity, and their fortuitous combinations, pro- 
ducing all the manifold results which we now wit- 
ness in the creation around us. The existence of 
a Supreme Eternal Cause is assumed in the New 
Testament, as a first j)rinciple ; and, as in the case 
of the soul, a direct and fearless appeal is made 
here, also, to the intuitions and to the consciousnesa 
of the human mind. It is in these, at last, that we 
reach the most satisfactory ground of faith in the 
being of God; and it may be fairly questioned 
whether, apart from these, the '' a priori" and " a 
posteriori" arguments have ever by themselves 
overcome the settled unbelief of a single human 
being. There seems to be a primitive faith on this 
subject, which can only be traced to the same ori- 
gin with the mind itself It is congenial and na- 
tive to the soul to believe in God. Men may work 



BEING OF GOD ASSUMED. 123 

themselves into an opposite belief; they may at 
last resign themselves to Atheism, either in conse- 
quence of the extreme difQ.culty and darkness of 
the subject, or owing to moral causes ; but none 
begin with this. The first faith is invariably the- 
istic not atheistic. "With interminable and wide 
differences in other respects, there is a marvelous 
concurrence of sentiment up to a certain point, 
among all nations and ages. That there is Divinity 
somewhere in this great universe, that there is 
some object of worship and of obedience, is an orig- 
inal belief, dating from the constitution of the soul 
itself. 

In passing from the Being to the Nature of God, 
we are compelled to reason from ourselves; for 
from ourselves alone, from our own higher nature, a 
pathway is found up to the Highest Nature of all. 
The common argument from effect to cause is un- 
answerable, so far as it goes ; the material universe 
proves the being of a God, for the simple reason 
that every effect must have a cause. But the ma- 
terial universe does not and can not prove the 
spiritual nature of its cause. The only proof, the 
only hint, of this is given in our own spirituality, 
and nowhere else. The New Testament affirms the 
existence of angels, a race of pure spirits, interme- 
diate between man and God. The fact rests en- 
tirely on the authority of revelation, but it seems 
to involve no peculiar dif&culty. The idea of un- 



124 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

embodied spirits is quite as conceivable as that ^f 
spirits embodied, and perhaps there are even some 
difficulties in the latter mode of being which do not 
applj to the former. The fact also appears to be 
quite in harmony with the analogies of the crea- 
tion. Among material things and beings there are 
gradations without number, all very beautiful, and 
suggestive of the opulence and power of the Crea- 
tor. It is not hard to believe that in the same 
way, and with the same effect, important grada- 
tions may exist among spiritual creatures also. 
The New Testament affirms that man does not 
constitute the solitary order of this form of exist- 
ence, but is allied to an elder brotherhood of an- 
gels ; the elder and the younger alike tracing their 
descent immediately from the great "Father of 
spirits." But whether with or without the aid of 
this intermediate step, it is from our own souls that 
we ascend to the conception of the Infinite Soul — ■ 
from the spiritual nature within us, to the spiritual 
nature above us, and over all. 

The spirituality of God suggests two leading ideas, 
Life and Intelligence. God is a Life. The word 
brings us to the verge of an impenetrable mystery, 
before which we stand in helpless wonder. The 
first step in the ascent from unorganized matter 
perplexes and confounds us. We may be able to 
watch the vegetative processin its successive stages, 
and to distinguish the phenomena which mark each 



ANGELIC SOULS. 125 

stage. The seed and the soil in which, it is planted 
we may be able to subject to analysis, and thus to 
ascertain the peculiar properties of both ; and the 
action also of the sun and the rain may be well 
understood. Science shall explain the entire course 
of vegetation ; but if we ask what that vital prin- 
ciple is in which vegetation originates, science to 
this day leaves the question unanswered. Nex^,,^! 
above vegetable life is animal life — a deeper and 
darker secret still. The distance is immeasurable 
between unconscious matter, organized or unorgan- 
ized, and even the lowest form of animal existence. 
Here is not merely organization, not merely un- 
conscious changes, but self-motion, voluntary, con- 
scious motion, and capacity of enjoyment and suf- 
fering, an awful and inscrutable power of willing, 
feeling, and doing. It has never been penetrated ; 
perhaps it is impenetrable by mortals. Science 
can not explain it, can not assist us to imagine it. 
Next above animal life is intellectual, by which 
even the lower animals are distinguished in differ- 
ent degrees, indicating, as they often do very plain- 
.'y, that they too have their thoughts, their affec- 
tions, their calculations, their reasonings, and their^ 
plans. Here is life within life, mystery within 
mystery ; but it is in man that both are revealed in 
their true greatness. Keason in man sMrpasses im- 
measurably the highest forms of intelligence as it 
exists in the inferior tribes, and at all events at this . 



126 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

limit their progress terminates. There is a mystery 
more awful still of wliicli man alone on this earth 
is the sanctuary. They have no moral nature, no 
conscience, no sense of God, of right and wrong, 
of immortality, of responsibility, of judgment to 
come. But man is thus endowed and exalted. 
Here, therefore, is life yet higher still, mystery still 
more profound. Fro. a vegetable, animal, intellect- 
ual moral, human, angelic life — 'from created life in 
all its wondrous modes — we ascend to him who is 
called " The Life." It is a noble image of the Di- 
vine nature. We think of God before the creation 
of the universe, alone in immensity, " The Life," 
mdestructible, perfect, pure, needing nothing from 
without, inexhaustibly rich in himself. We think 
of him sending forth life and peopling space with 
countless forms of material and spiritual glory. 
All, wherever it is and whatever its form, is from 
him — He alone is the underived, independent, 
original, everlasting life. 

But the God of the New Testament is not a 
quality, not an idea, or a process, or a law, not a 
thing, but a Being, an Agent. He is truly a Life ; 
but as truly he is a Mind, The Presiding Mind of 
the universe. If created spirits are endowed with 
high capacities, and enriched with varied and vast 
knowledge, what must be the resources and the 
powers of the All-creating Spirit ? '' He that 
planted the ear, shall he not hear ? he that formed 



127 



the eye, shall he not see? he that teacheth man 
knowledge, shall not he know?" The universe in 
all its kingdoms, in all the manifold departments of 
each of these kingdoms, in all the countless facts 
with their hidden principles which belong to each 
of these departments — ^the vast universe in the past, 
the present, and the future, must stand revealed in 
the clear light of the divine knowledge, All truth 
must dwell in the Infinite understanding, as in its 
native home. We bow down before the measure- 
less heights, the unfathomable depths, the illimit- 
able possessions of the uncreated Mind. Worship 
becomes not merely reasonable but necessary, a trib- 
ute which can not be withheld from snch a Being. 
The nature of worship is understood and felt at 
once and as deeply the wickedness of substituting 
any material acts for the free aspirations of the 
soul. 

Such a doctrine of God as we have imperfectly 
sketched surely demanded, for its announcement to 
the world, a great occasion and an extraordinary 
herald. But it was a Jew, a young man, a working 
carpenter, who published the doctrine eighteen 
hundred years ago, and to a poor woman. After a 
long journey, Jesus ^Yixs sitting by the side of a 
well, in a retired place, when a woman of Samaria 
came to draw water. She belonged to a people 
with whom any other Jew would have scorned to 
hold intercourse ; but he began to talk to her on th« 



128 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

subject of religion, and then and there proceeded 
to open to her mind, simply and familiary, some of 
the divinest ideas which have ever been pnt into 
the language of men. The Samaritans and the 
Jews were both wrong in their prevailing notions 
of worship and of God. To the one, God was in 
Samaria; to the other, in Jerusalem. But he 
taught her that the true God was not a local or na- 
tional divinity, but a universal presence, and that 
true worship was always only spiritual, for the sim- 
ple reason that the object of worship was a spirit. 
"Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when nei- 
ther in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem ye shall 
worship the Father . . . The hour cometh, and now 
iS; when the true worshipers shall worship the 
Father in spirit and in truth ; for the Father seek- 
eth such to worship him. God is a spirit ; and 
they that worship him must worship him in spirit 
and in truth." ' 

This is a specimen of Christ's teaching, not an 
exception to it. Thus uniformly he turned the 
thoughts of mankind to the Infinite, Ever-living 
Intelligence, and summoned the world to believe 
and adore. 

The idea of more than one Infinite Being is con- 
tradictory and impossible. On the supposition that 
there are two or more, they must be either in har- 
mony or in conflict. But if they are in perfect 

1 John, iv. 22-24. 



ONE INFINITE BEING. 129 

and everlasting harmony, this is in effect to say 
that they are identical, and nothing is gained by 
the notion of plurality. On the other hand, if 
they are in opposition one to another, such a con- 
flict could produce nothing but universal anarchy 
and destruction — a state of things which finds no 
realization in the actual world. The existence of 
one Infinite Being harmonizes with the facts of the 
universe, and sufS.ciently accounts for them ; and 
the reasoning is now perfectly familiar, as it is en- 
tirely satisfactory, by which it is made out, that 
the creation in all its regions indicates the hand 
and the mind of only one supreme Author and 
Euler. The atom and the world, the insect and the 
man, the single globe and the countless spheres 
that people space ; all, so far as our knowledge of 
them extends, are governed by the same great laws. 
The separate departments and kingdoms of nature, 
whether great or small, whether near or remote, 
whether inanimate, or animated, or rational, do 
not point to diverse origins, and do not exhibit 
subjection to diverse authorities ; but, on the con- 
trary, form a harmonious whole which must have 
originated with one mind, and must be governed 
by one supreme authority. All this is accepted, 
in our day, by many who do not bow to Christi- 
anity. But the world as a whole, nevertheless, 
groans still beneath a pantheon as monstrous and 
as vast, as any past age ever reared. Judaism, 
6* 



130 THE CHEIST OF HISTOEY. 

Christianitj, and Mohammedanism are the only 
existing systems of religion which recognize only 
one God ; and it will not be questioned that the 
last owes this faith to the one or the other of the 
two former. The suffrages of mankind are against 
the doctrine of Grod's unity, by an overwhelming 
majority. 

But we have to do with the ancient, not the 
present, state of opinion and of faith among man- 
kind. The mildest form of departur^e from Divine 
unity in the ancient world was that ^vhich was 
found among the Chaldeans and Persians, nations 
certainly not the lowest at that time in the scale of 
advancement and civilization. Their creed com- 
prehended two objects of supreme worship, one 
the author only of good, and another the author of 
all evil, and nothing but evil ; of course, the first 
a purely benevolent, and the second a purely mal- 
evolent being, answering to the light and the dark- 
ness found alike in the natural and in the moral 
world. At this day, we possess far higher means 
of unraveling the dark phenomena of providence 
than were accessible to antiquity. "We have learned 
to resolve phj^sical into moral evil as its necessary 
cause, direct or indirect ; and for moral evil itself, 
we have been taught to regard it as the voluntary 
abuse of the freedom of the created will. We may 
be able to perceive that in the very existence of a 
created will, there was involved the possibility of 



DUALISM. 131 

its choosing to separate from tlie Divine will, a 
thing which, except by destroying the very essence 
of will, the physical omnipotence of God could not 
prevent, with which indeed physical omnipotence 
coald have nothing to do. It may be clear to us, 
that all moral evil is the act of responsible because 
free creatures, the possibility of which was in- 
volved in their creation, and which no mere power 
could have prevented. We may therefore behold 
the one God doing only good, retrieving the effects 
of the sin of his creatures, putting down the evil 
which they originate, and bringing good out of 
that evil, so far as such a thing is possible. But in 
the absense of the aids and the light which we now 
possess, and in the view of the unnatural and con- 
founding mixture of evil with good which moral 
providence exhibits, ancient dualism must be con- 
sidered the most pardonable and plausible form of 
polytheistic error. 

By the side of dualism, the enormous polytheism 
of the ancient world reared its head. The deifica- 
tion of spirits evil and good, of the elements of 
nature, of the signs of the sky, of human beings, 
of beasts, birds, reptiles, insects, inanimate wood, 
stone, clay, was widely, almost universally sanc- 
tioned. Sky, and earth, and sea, and mountains, 
and valleys, and forests, and rivers were peopled 
with gods and goddesses. It may be true, at the 
same ti/ne, that every ancient religion contained 



132 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

the idea of some one god wlio was supreme among 
the many; bu: then this being was not, therefore 
more worshiped than the others, but rather less 
He might be really greater, but he was less import 
ant, less conversant with ordinary human affairs 
and Am, therefore, it was less necessar}^ to invoke 
It is not denied also, that there might be in the an 
cient world select individuals, who had ascended 
above the crowd of inferior divinities to the con- 
ception of one Almighty Being. But the earth, 
notwithstanding, was filled with gods and covered 
with temples. The whole ancient world had a 
scarcely exaggerated type of its theistic condition, 
in the capital of Greece — '^It was easier to find a 
god than a man in Athens." 

From Egypt and Persia, from Greece and Eome, 
from idols and temples, from priests, poets, and 
sages, we turn to the lowly Teacher of Nazareth. 
He proclaimed that God is One, and that the uni- 
verse is one in its origin and its end, and is- under 
the dominion of one Supreme Raler, the King 
eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise God. 
From the beginning to the close of his ministry, he 
proclaimed one true God. Every where always he 
proclaimed the One God. jSTo hint of any other 
doctrine than that of absolute divine unity is ever 
given ; none other is named or noticed. " There is 
none good but one ; that is God." ' " That they 

1 Matthew, xix. IV. 



CHEIST PKOCLAIMING UNITY. 18S 

miglit know thee, the onlv true God."^ ^' There is 
one God, and none other but he."^ The proclama- 
tion of God's unity bj the voice of Christ was first 
heard throughout the land of Judea ; but the sound 
was, by and by, wafted far beyond it. It echoed 
among the hoary idolatries of the world, and shook 
them to their foundations. The echo has not died 
away — it is heard now — it shall yet be heard above 
the clamor and hubbub of all rival faiths, and shall 
drown every other voice. One God, one supreme 
object of reverence and love, of worship and obe- 
dience — only One 1 

The occasion will arise, at a more advanced stage 
of our inquiries, for noticing with special interest 
the sentiments of certain heathen philosophers and 
moralists concerning God. It is here cheerfully 
admitted, that these sentiments are often very just, 
very noble, very strengthening, and very sanctify- 
ing, and are, in truth, the early promise of a divinei 
age. Light shone in the darkness, and these men 
almost saw the daybreak, and almost descried the 
first streaks of the dawn of a hallowed morning. 
Some of their ideas respecting God, his majesty and 
his purity, his wisdom, and even his mercifulness, 
astonish us by their profonndness and their grand- 
eur. But they were entertained by few — ^oh, how 
few, out of the vast multitudes ! They also partook 
more of the character of sudden and transient inspir- 

» John xvii. 3. 2 Mark, xii. 32. 



184 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

ations than of settled convictions ; and they formed 
but a dim and shadowy prefiguration of the brighter 
revelations of a future age. We have already 
noticed the belief, in the ancient world, of one Be- 
ing supreme among the gods, which was also other- 
wise modified, and took the form of faith in one 
supreme nature embodied in many separate divini- 
ties ; and it can not be doubted that even this was 
fitted to correct, in some measure, the spirit of 
polj^theism during "the times of ignorance." But 
this "Deus Maximus" was felt to be a cold myth- 
ical abstraction, rather than a loving father^ and a 
fountain of living excellence. A God of perfect 
rectitude, purity, truth, and love, was virtually un- 
known to ancient paganism. Many of its deities 
were monsters of vice — ^impersonations of all that 
was impure, cruel, and vile. Their history was a 
tissue of superhuman abominations ; and many of 
the very rites of their worship were revolting and 
unclean. 

Turning to the Jewish nation, from whom so 
much might have been expected, we find that they 
had shockingly misrepresented the character, the 
attributes, the doings, the very nature of the True 
God. In the prevailing conceptions of the people, 
his justice was little else than revenge — his love 
partiality— his providence special and arbitrary in- 
terposition — his revelation a cabalistic secret — and 



THE PATERNITY OF GOD. 185 

his infinite nature a liuge extension of tlie caprices 
and passions of man. 

Jesus of Nazareth revealed a Being necessarily 
opposed to all evil; and essentially righteous, true, 
pure, and good. All conceivable and all possibl'e 
perfections dwell in his nature, and shine there in 
unclouded light. This God is Excellence, only 
Excellence, Excellence Infinite and Everlasting. 
The very idea of such a Being is Divine. Were 
there defect in God, even to the smallest amount, he 
could no more be the resting-place of the created 
mind ; a dark shadow would fall upon his whole 
character, and a torturing and insupportable sense 
of insecurity would afilict the whole universe. But 
Jesus of Nazareth summons us to worship a Being 
in whom the intellect, affections, and conscience of 
man may safely repose — an object worthy of the 
eternal admiration, confidence, and love of all ra- 
tional creatures — the Only Holy One^ the God of 
Glory. 

§ II. — THE PATERNITY OF GOD. 

The relation which God sustains to man is only 
less important, than his Being and the properties 
of his Nature. " How is God connected with met 
How is he affected toward me V are questions of 
infinite interest to a rational being. The answer 
of the Teacner of Nazareth to these questions is 



136 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

simple and explicit, and is conveyed in a single 
word, a word of profound significance and of sur- 
passing tenderness — the word Father. To man 
this term belongs emphatically, and it is one of the 
wealthiest in human language, and men at least can 
have no difficulty in comprehending all its meaning. 
The relation which it indicates has no such inter- 
pretation, among other intelligent creatures, as it 
finds in this world. There is no fatherhood or 
childhood among angels, no derivation of being 
from one to the other. But men on earth are con- 
nected together in this extraordinary sense; and 
from the imperfect type existing among themselves, 
they at least are able to rise to the supreme reality 
in God. The human spirit is the offspring, the im- 
mediate and direct offspring, of the Everliving 
Spirit. It is capable of bearing and does bear, and 
it is the only thing that bears or is capable of bear- 
ing, a resemblance to God. When we have said 
that God created the heavens, the earth and all ma- 
terial things, we have exhausted all of which the 
subject admits. But it is not simply true, that he 
created minds also, He is the Father of minds and 
of nothing else. 

The peculiar representation which is thus given 
of God's relation to man is beautifully suggestive, 
among other things, of authority, the very highest 
form of which known in this world is the parental. 
The power of a sovereign, however extensive it be. 



GOD LIKENED TO A KING. 137 

is, after all, only conventional ; it admits of being 
circumscribed or suspended; and there are many 
quarters of the world where no such thing is recog- 
nized or known. All earthly forms of authoritj?-, 
whether belonging to the political, civil, or social 
relations of men, are accidental and official, created 
by men themselves for their own purposes, and 
may be modified or entirely abolished by the 
power that created them. But the authority of a 
father over his child is founded in nature, and es- 
tablished by the Great God himself This is not, 
like the others, a voluntary arrangement among 
men themselves, which they are at liberty to con- 
tinue or to terminate as they please ; but, on the 
contrary, it is a Divine constitution. Such author- 
ity as a father possesses over his child, so natural, 
so divine, so real^ no human being besides can pos- 
sess over another. This^ accordingly, is the selected 
type of the supreme rights of Gocl, and of that es- 
sential sovereignty which belongs to the Father of 
minds. No other explains, as this does, the found- 
ation and the nature of Divine authority. There 
are, indeed, other terms which indicate the mere 
fact of sovereignty in God, and do so more point- 
edly and directedly than this. For example : He 
is compared to a king ; a name which belongs to 
the highest secular office and the highest secular 
authority on earth. " The Lord is King forever 
and ever." His creatures are his subjects \ he has 



138 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

given them rigTiteous and wise laws, and they mnst 
answer to him for obedience and disobedience. The 
comparison is obviously jnst up to a certain limit ; 
but it is as obvious that, in many essential respects, 
it entirely fails. The king and his people are con- 
nected together only by one bond, that of author- 
ity and corresponding subjection. But the intimacy 
and tenderness of the association between God and 
his rational creatures are not expressed, or in any 
way suggested, by this phraseology. All that is 
conveyed by the word king — authority, rectitude, 
wisdom, power — is really contained in the word 
father; but there is very much conveyed by the 
word father which is not capable of being expressed 
by the word king. Grod is a King, but he is a 
Father-King ; his subjects are his own children, and 
his government of them, in its very origin, and 
consequently in its essential spirit, in all its laws, 
and in all its acts, is strictly and only parental. 
God's Kinghood is ^ figure^ his Fatherhood is the 
profoundest reality. He may justly, and in certain 
respects, be comjpared to a king; but ]iq is d, 
Father. 

The relation in which God stands to them sheds 
amazing glory on intelligent beings of all orders. 
All souls wherever they are in the wide universe, 
are brothers ; all have one Father, even God. The 
immense brotherhood, the vast family, it is hardly 
possible to embrace by any effort of imagination, 



GOD IS OUR FATHER. 139 

and some of its aspects are so appalling that we are 
even deterred from making the attempt. 

The first-born of G-od, the elder sons of creation, 
unfallen angels, are associated in the invisible state 
with multitudes of disembodied, perfected human 
spirits. Another division of the great family is 
found on this earth, and it includes a vast majority 
of the earth's inhabitants. They are children, but 
they have wandered from their Father, have ceased 
to think of him, almost to know him, and with 
them God is patiently striving by his spirit in their 
minds and by his outward providence. A third 
division includes the reclaimed children of God in 
this world ; those who have been arrested in their 
wanderings, have heard the voice of their Father, 
and have been subdued and won back to him. 
Between such reclaimed souls on earth and their 
God there must exist a singular tenderness of afitec- 
tion. They are his sons twice born, by generation 
and regeneration, his offspring at first, but also 
created anew and restored to him by trust and love. 
Of every one of them the Great Father proclaims, 
'' This my son was lost and is found, was dead, and 
is alive again." 

But a terrible darkness overshadows the remain- 
ing portion of the family of God, unreclaimed 
minds, human and angelic, in the invisible world* 
The entrance of sin and death among rational crea- 
tures is a tremendous and unfathomable mystery. 



140 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

On earth, in the history of many a home, it is seen 
that some of the circle abide in affection and in duty, 
while others prove "undutifal and lawless ; and the 
counterpart of this, it is found, exists in a higher 
region. The family of G-od has been the scene of 
dark revolt. The one mystery of the universe, into 
whicb all else that troubles and confounds the re- 
flecting may be resolved, is no other than this: — 
" The created will separating from the uncreated, 
struggling against it, and ruiniDg itself by llie mad 
effort." Multitudes of rebellious wills have thus 
doomed themselves to irretrievable perdition. But 
all the while, whatever Grod has done, he has done 
to avert, not to produce, spiritual ruin. How or 
why it has happened that the children have rebelled 
against tbeir Father, and perished in their rebel- 
lion, is a secret which we can not unvail. But the 
act was their own, wholly and only their own, and 
as wholly and only in defiance and despite of Him 
who deserved nothing but obedience and love. 
Yerily this is dark, impenetrably dark; but the 
reality of the fatherhood of God is luminous not- 
v/ithstanding. It is a first principle, as stable and 
as'sure as God's being; and all that it involves of 
tenderness and love is as indubitable as ever. The 
simple truth of our parentage abides, amid what- 
ever mj^sterj^, God is our Father, the Father of 
minds. 
. This great fact was announced marvelously often 



THE FATHER OF ALL SOULS. 141 

in the teadaing of Jesus. Sometimes, when refer- 
ring to God, he makes use of the more personal and 
intimate designation, my Father. "My Father's 
kingdom."^ "My Father hath appointed me."* 
** My Father worketh hitherto." ' " It is my Father 
that honoreth me." * But much oftener, generally 
indeed, he adopts the more comprehensive word, 
and speaks of God as the Father. " The Father 
hath life in himself." ^ " Neither in this mountain, 
nol" yet at Jerusalem, ye shall worship the Father." " 
" He that hath learned of the Father." ' " Not that 
any man hath seen the Father." ^ "I will pray the 
Father."' "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Fa- 
ther." ^^ "I came forth from the Father and go to 
the Father."'^ "The promise of the Father."^' 
" The times and the seasons the Father hath put in 
his own hand." '^ " I shall show you plainly of the 
Father." '* Addressing not any select class, but all 
those indiscriminately who listened to his teaching, 
he represented God as the Father. This is the 
more significant, when it is recollected that the 
very work of Jesus on earth, at least an essential 
part of his work, was to make known God. The 
root of human sin was false views of God, miscon- 
ception as to his character, imagining that what he 

• Matt. xxvi. 29. 2 Luke, xxii. 29. 3 John, v. IT. 

* John, viii. 14. s John, v. 26. 6 John, iv. 2L 

7 John, vi. 45. « John, vi. 46. 9 John, xiv 16. 

1" John, XV. 16. 11 John, xvi. 28. 12 Acts, i. 4. 

13 Acts, i. 7. 1^ John, xvi. 25. 



142 THE CHKIST OF HISTOEY. 

had declared might nevertheless not be true. This 
constituted the first sin ever perpetrated in our 
world, and was the sole cause of death, the death 
of the soul. On the other hand, it is declared that 
this is life, eternal life, "to hnow thee, the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ^ Ig- 
norance was death ; hence the life opposed to this 
death is knowledge, the knowledge of God ; and to 
convey this knowledge was one of the highest pur- 
poses of Christ's mission. In all the labors of his 
life, in his teaching and in his cross, one grand de- 
sign was to reveal to men what God really was, 
that they might be constrained to return to him. 
The question, therefore, is inexpressibly moment- 
ous, what does Jesus say concerning God, how does 
he represent the relation in which he stands to in- 
telligent beings ? Only one reply can be given to 
this question, Jesus reveals God as the Father of 
souls. And if there be significance in the word, if 
there be truth in the relation, this is of all things 
most sure, God loves infinitely his own offspring. 
He is a true Father, he is a perfect Father, without 
any of the blemishes or faults, and with all the ex- 
cellences that are possible to the relation. Take 
from the word father all of error, weakness, ca- 
price, with which it may ever be associated ; 
heighten to infinity all in it that is tender, endear- 
ing, excellent — that is God. He is wise, he is 

I John, xvii. 3. 



CHEIST PROCLAIMS THE FATHER. 143 

rigliteous, lie is miglity, Ms holy purpose shall 
stand, he must and will do all that is necessary for 
the good of the entire universe. But, besides pow- 
er, besides wisdom, besides rectitude, besides im- 
mutability, there is an infinite tenderness in his 
nature. The heart of God is the heart of a father 
for all his rational offspring. Paternal love is the 
element in which God lives and reigns. Paternal 
love is the moving force in the spiritual universe, 
unbounded, unchanging, everlasting love ; infinite 
desire to produce happiness, to fill creation with 
the largest possible amount of enduring joy. 

Jesus of Nazareth reveals for the worship and 
love of man, a Spirit; One Spirit, the dwelling- 
place and Fountain of infinite moral excellence ; a 
Being standing in the nearest possible relation to 
intelligent creatures — ^the Father of souls ! 

The world was ignorant of its high descent, of 
its Divine parentage. The mind of man, God's 
own child, had all but lost the sense of its origin. 
Jesus came near to tell men that they had still a 
Father, and that their Father pitied and loved 
them. He came to wake up in the bosom of God's 
fallen sons a cry after their Father, and to bring 
back the guilty wanderers to their home 1 • 



CHAPTER lY. 

RECONCILIATION OF THE SOUL AND GOD. 

To investigate the doctrine of reconciliation, in 
the sense of the theological schools, would require 
a much broader basis than the materials which be- 
long to our proper subject afford. That subject 
deals only with the personal teaching of Jesus 
Christ, and with the bearings of his teachings as he 
himself exhibited them,, on the wants of human na- 
ture and on the state of the .world. It does not 
reach the later expositions of the Christian faith by 
the Apostles; and still less, that classification of 
its articles, which was not accomplished till long 
after their times ; and least of all that elaborated 
system, the boast of modern theology, so minute 
in its details and marked by such rigorous regard 
to logical order. Two subjects were prominent in 
the personal teaching of Christ — the soul and God. 
But there was an obvious design in the selection of 
these subjects, besides their intrinsic importance. 
In interpreting the soul and in revealing God, Jesus 
limed at more than simply communicating new 



MORAL RETRIBUTION, 145 

and ennobling knowledge to tlie world, "WTiat 
Immanity needed was not merely to understand the 
soul and to understand God, it needed still more to 
learn how the soul might be restored to God, and 
how God might again dwell in the soul. The world 
knew and felt to its core that its spiritual relations 
were awfully deranged, but the source and cause of 
the evil it knew not. Jesus declared that the grand 
and sole cause was to be found in willful departure 
from God, departure in conscience, in affection, in 
thought. The two beings most nearly related to 
each other in the universe, man and God, the son 
and the Father, had become estranged and almost 
unknown to one another. On the part of God, 
indeed, there had been nothing but anxious love, 
agencies, messages, influences of love, from age to 
age, in order to overcome and subdue his children. 
He had never but seen and known them well in 
their wanderings and darkness ; but they had al- 
most ceased to know or think of him. The first 
deliberate act of separation from God proved not 
only itself an evil thing ; it was a spreading evil, a 
self-perpetuating, selfpropagating disease in the 
soul Divergence, once commenced, increased 
rapidly, and separated man from God by an ever- 
widening gulf The process of alienation was ex- 
tensive as it was swift, just as when an inconsider- 
able speck spreads and deepens into a thick, black 
cloud, and at last clothes the whole heavens with 

7 



146 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY 

darkness. The true God was driven out from the 
spirit lio had created, and man gradually lost almost 
all knowledge and all faith. The evidence of his- 
tory, secular and sacred, as to the condition of the 
ancient worlds is uniform and decisive. The un- 
certainty that hung around even the being of Grod, 
the profound ignorance of his nature and character, 
the multiplication of objects of worship, the con- 
version' of the glorious One into an '* image made 
like to corruptible man and to four-footed beasts 
and creeping things" — ^these all utter a language 
not to be misunderstood. The son of God had 
almost ceased to know that he had a Father, or who 
was his Father. 

This ever-widening separation, again, between 
man and God, contained within itself manifold 
spiritual calamities. God is the Fountain of infinite 
rectitude, purity, wisdom, truth, and love ; and the 
entire system of things created by him in all its 
parts, and especially the moral nature of his chil- 
dren, as he formed them^ was an expression and em- 
bodiment of these principles. It belonged to the 
moral nature of man as constitated by God, it was 
its positive destiny to move in harmony with the 
Eternal Keason, and the Eternal Will, and thus 
moving, to be as surely blessed in its degree as 
God himself is. The act of willful departure from 
God, therefore, was not simply a violation of filial 
duty on the part of God's children ; it was direct 



MOEAL RETRIBUTION. 147 

separation from rectitude and wisdom and all mor- 
al excellence, and, in another form, as certainly, 
from happiness, from peace, from life as God had 
constituted life to man. Thenceforward there were 
two wills and two courses — the will of God and 
his injQnitelj wise, right and good system ; the hu- 
man will, and its course of folly, of moral evil, of 
necessary suffering. 

But the secondary and remoter consequences of 
departure from God were not less lamentable, than 
its primary effects. The laws of spiritual provi- 
dence possess an almighty, retributive energy. 
Never a wrong can be done to God without its re- 
coiling on the wrong-doer, with direful violence. 
Men were faithless to God, and ere long they were 
false to themselves ; they abandoned God^ and ere 
long they became strangers to themselves ; first they 
dishonored God, and then they degraded their own 
nature. In a world from which the true God had 
been banished the human soul was trodden in the 
dust, and its holier powers and its immortal desti- 
nies were shrouded in thick darkness. The first 
and highest relation, the relation to God, being vio- 
lated, all other relations were in their turn over- 
thrown, and the spiritual nature itself became a 
disorder and a ruin. Separation from God is not a 
partial, but a universal and unmitigated evil, it is 
death. The stream cut off from the fountain must 
be dried up, the branch severed from the tree must 



148 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

wither tlie plant torn up from tlie soil must die. 
The root, not only of our animal, but of our Intel 
lectual and moral life, is in God. We are branch- 
es of the might}^ Tree of univej'sal spiritual ex- 
istence, we are streams from that Fountain, which 
alone supplies the water of life in whatsoever chan- 
nels it flows. To be in God — that is, to think, feel 
and choose in harmony with rectitude, purity, wis- 
dom, truth and love^ — is the original constitution, 
the life of the soul ; it is its destiny, its freedom also, 
its glory, its very being. To depart from God, on 
the otlier hand, is to unite with folly, with wrong, 
with suffering. This is intellectual and moral ruin ; 
it is truly death, such death as is possible to a ra- 
tional and moral nature. 

The union of minds, whether of the created with 
each other or of the created with the uncreated, 
can consist only in knowledge, love, confidence, 
and sympathy. For the real union of any two 
souls it is essential, first, that they understand, and 
then that they appreciate and esteem one another ; 
that they cherish a mutual confidence and a sym- 
pathy in each others' pursuits, tastes, and aims. 
Ignorance, dislike, distrust, and want of sympathy, 
it is seen in a moment, must be death to their union ; 
and, on the other hand, that union is obviously 
more living and more real as their knowledge and 
esteem of each other are increased, and as their 
mutual confidence, sympathy, and love are deep- 



END OF CHRIST'S DEATH, 149 



ened. The death of the human soul, in relation to 
God, is ignorance or false viev/s of his character, 
indifference, or dislike, distrust, and want of sym- 
pathy. The life opposed to this death is right views 
of God. The source of peace, of holiness, of all 
that constitutes in the truest sense heing to the soul 
in its relation to God, is right views of him, of his 
purity and his goodness, and of his merciful inten- 
tions toward his fallen children. It is a new and 
loving recognition of the character of God, it is 
recovered childlike trust in him, it is intelligent 
sympathy with his gracious procedure and plans. 
By knowledge, love, confidence and sympathy the 
uncreated and the created mind are reunited, and 
no other union than this is possible to them. This 
is the righting again of the first and highest of all 
our relations, our relation to God; the only right- 
ing agam which is needed or is possible ; and this is 
grounded in the free surrender of the understand- 
ing, conscience, and heart to that Eternal Will 
which is rectitude, purity, wisdom, truth and love. 
This is life, re-newed life. The stream is connected 
again with the living Fountain, the branch is 
grafted in again into the Tree, the plant is rooted 
again in the parent Soil. The prodigal son returns 
again to his Father's house and his Father's heart. 
The two beings the most nearly related to each 
other in the whole universe — God and man — who 



150 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

were so awfallj estranged are brougTit together 
reconciled. 

The reconciliation of the soul and God was the 
highest end of the personal ministry of Jesus. He 
often spoke of this as connected with his life, and 
as still more mysteriously related to his death. 
" God so loved the world that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
should not perish but have everlasting life."' 
" The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many."^ "I am the good shepherd: the good 
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." ^ "I lay 
down my life for the sheep." * " Therefore doth 
my Father love me, because I lay down my life 
that I may take it again. ISTo man taketh it from 
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power 
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 
This commandment have I received of my Father." * 
''Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of 
Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and 
unto the Scribes, and they shall condemn him to 
death." ° " All ye shall be offended because of me 
this night ; for it is written, I will smite the shep- 
herd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered 
abroad." ' In the reconciliation of men to God, 

1 John, iii. 16. 2 Matt., xx. 28. s John, x. 11. 

4 John, X. 15. 5 John, x. 11. « Matthew, xx. 18. 

' Matthew, xxvl. 31. 



AND OF HIS LIFE. 151 

Jesus expected and was prepared to sacrifice his 
life ; and in point of fact lie did sacrifice his life 
for this end. No devout examiner of the Chris- 
tian books can doubt that the wonderful passages 
which have been quoted most distinctly teach that 
the death of Christ not only marks an era of the 
most solemn interest in the development of his re- 
ligion, but fills an extraordinary place, and exerts 
an extraordinary power among the active forces of 
Christianity. Whatever other connections it may 
have, its relation to Jesus himself, as the highest 
expression of his love, and the strongest evidence 
of his invincible moral courage, and its relation to 
men as a mighty spiritual power acting upon the 
heart of the world, are beyond debate. But the 
whole of the ministry of Christ, and not the tragi- 
cal close of it only, was a ministry of reconcilia- 
tion. His life as well as his death was sacrificial 
and atoning. The soul and Grod at once, no longer 
divided by sin, by ignorance, enmity, distrust, but 
re-united and reconciled ; for this Jesus both lived 
and died. The soul and Grod, as doctrines, consti- 
tuted the chief theme of his teaching ; but the 
doctrines were proclaimed because they contained 
the seed of life, of everlasting life to a dying v/orld, 
and were fitted to originate a deep and vital change 
in men's consciences and hearts. In dealing with 
these doctrines, Christ's methods were various, but 
his aim was uniform • it was that men might recog- 



162 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

nize God and be reconciled to Him. Sometimcr 
he revealed the soul to itself, its greatness and re- 
sponsibility, its condition and its danger, and thus 
prompted it to rise to its own lofty sphere of 
thought and of action. Again, he revealed God 
to the soul as its Father, from whom it ought never 
to have been separated, and in reconciliation with 
whom only it could have peace and life. On the 
one hand, a deep and living faith in the destiny, 
the wants, and the claims of their own spiritual 
nature ; on the other hand, a deep and living faith 
in the Fath.er of their souls — these constituted the 
grand, the pressing necessity of human beings in 
that age ; they do so not less at this moment. 
Jesus sought, therefore, first to place within men a 
perpetual spiritual presence, and then to surround 
men with a perpetual Divine presence. By his life 
and by his death, he sought to restore God to man, 
and man to God. The spiritual restoration and re- 
generation of the world, in other v/ords, the estab- 
lishment of a reign of God in the human soul, 
forms the true idea of the personal ministry of 
Christ, the true idea of his life, the true idea of hia 
death, a 



PART V 

THE ARGUMENT FEOM HIS WORK TO HIS DIVINITY, 

Human systems of religious truth. — Mohammedanism. — Hindoo- 
ism and Buddhism. — Talmudism. — Ancient Jewish Scriptures. 
— Stoicism, earlier and later. — Errors and Excellences. — 
Socraticism or Platonism. — Philo-Judaeus. — Life of Socrates,— 
His Death. — His Faith and Hopes. — Christian views of them 
and him. — Christianity contrasted with Teaching of Socrates. 
—Solution, Christ's true Divinity. 

If the representation of tlie teacTiing of Christ 
which has been offered be faulty^ it is by defect, 
not by excess. For our purpose it may have been 
sufficient ; but it is only by the critical and minute 
study of the discourses and sayings of Jesus that we 
learn to diO full justice to his character as a Teacher, 
and that we gain an impression at all adequate of 
his spiritual opulence and power. The words of 
this Being, even on common occasions, discover a 
breadth and universality without example; they 
are always very simple, but profoundly suggestive, 
sometimes of inexhaustible force. Jesus not only 
announces separate ideas of the highest value, but 
his sayings may be likened to rich seeds or roots of 
truth, from which spring up manifold living growths 



154 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

Again, in dealing with a profound, hard, dense sub- 
ject, a single utterance of his shall discover it to its 
depths, and leave it luminous forever. The free 
and earnest soul deeply pondering the sentences 
which fell from his lips, feels itself in a lofty and 
holy region, where new expanses of light and glory 
in all directions break upon the sight ; where forms 
of truth, long familiar, open freshly, and disclose 
unimagined wonders ; and where an overpowering 
sense of reality, of living energy, and of Divinity is 
created. But this experience co.n not he gained with- 
out devout, profound and close study of the Gos- 
pels ; and, as the study in the becoming temper of 
mind is prolonged, the experience, instead of fading, 
deepens marvelously. 

The teaching of Jesus of Kazareth, as we have 
attempted to describe it in the last chapter, must 
now be compared with whatever portions of pro- 
fessed truth the world has received from other 
hands, in other places and ages. A spirit of strict 
impartiality must guide the comparison. 

I. The latest noticeable antagonist of Christianity 
is the system which owes its birth to the genius, 
perhaps the piety, of Mohammed ; and to which, on 
several obvious grounds, no inconsiderable impor- 
tance belongs. It has spread itself over a large 
part of the globe ; it is accepted by a hundred and 
fifty millions of the human race ; and is, in itself, 



HUMAN SYSTEMS OF TRUTH. 155 

immensely superior to all the forms of polytheism* 
The doctrine of One Supreme Grod, and of his all- 
ruling providence, is^invaluable, and must have ex- 
erted a mighty influence for good wherever it has 
been received. But an examination of this system 
is unnecessary here, and chiefly on two accounts :-— 
First, not to notice the extravagances and follies 
which it contains, it i« at variance in many parts 
with the established facts of science, and in many 
other pa,rts with just moral sentiments. Second, in 
all its really important aspects, it is a copy from 
Judaism, or from Christianity, or from both. None 
acquainted with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures 
— the latter and especially the former, much more 
ancient than the Koran — can doubt this fact for a 
moment. Altogether, in spite of its redeeming 
features, as a communication of spiritual truth to the 
world, a message respecting God, or respecting man, 
respecting the divine government, or respecting hu- 
man destinies, it does not admit of being compared 
with Christianity. 

II. At the opposite extreme in point of time from 
the religion of Arabia, and not less opposite in point 
of character, stand the Hindoo or Brahminical and 
the Buddhist systems. Our notice of them shall be 
very short, ana it is on this account that we have 
ventured to depart in this instance from the chrono- 
logical order. The great antiquity of these systems 



156 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

invests them with interest and importance. Budd 
hism belongs to a period at least several hundred 
years before the age of Christ, and Brahminism is 
certainly many centuries earlierj and may have been 
even much earlier than this, indeed is probably the 
most ancient form of religion now existing in the 
world. The one holds possession at this day of 
nearly the entire population of Hindostan, the other 
is adopted by the three hundred millions of the 
Chinese empire. The Hindoo or Brahminical reli- 
gion is in form and even in essence an enormous' 
polytheism, if indeed it be not rather a true pan- 
theism. The Buddhist system is virtually a philo- 
sophical atheism. In the one, whatever underlying 
unity it may be possible to discover, all the powers 
and parts of the universe are held to be proper 
objects of worship, are indeed truly divine, inasmuch 
as they are all alike emanations of the divinity. In 
the other there is no God but intellect. The Budd- 
hist, though he may exalt the idea of an abstract 
intellectual unity, though he may recognize the con- 
centration of the idea in saint or sage, or may fancy 
it diffused and distributed in innumerable forms, in 
reality worships nothing higher than his own soul, 
or the conception of that soul, develoj)ed under 
more propitious circumstances than his individual 
life has supplied. Eastern scholars, who have ex- 
amined the Hindoo Vedas, inform us that, along 
with much of a very opposite character, they con- 



HINDOOISM AND BUr»I>HISM. 157 

tain passages of great sublimity on the holiest and 
grandest subject of thought, the Infinite Intelligencej 
the Fountain of Light and Life ; and also many les- 
sons of benevolence, purity, wisdom and justice 
Christians receive the information with thankful- 
ness, and are glad to believe that any such rays of 
light, however feeble and few, have fallen upon the 
darkness of the world. But they can not on this 
account conceal from themselves or the less deplore 
the idolatry, the pantheism, the moral abominations, 
the monstrous system of worship, and the monstrous 
forms of human society which have grown up be- 
neath the shelter of Brahminism and Buddhism. 

IIL We return to the order of time ; and, begin- 
ning with the age of Mohammed, and passing back 
from it toward the Christian era, we meet with 
certain Jewish writings, to which it is maintained 
the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth was largely in- 
debted. The modern Jew asserts with much assur- 
ance, that all which is really valuable in the say- 
ings of Christ, was borrowed, more or less directly, 
from the Talmud. That collection of traditions, 
and of expositions of the ancient Scriptures, known 
by this title, consisting of the Mishna or text, and 
two commentaries, the one the Gemara of Jerusa- 
lem, and the other the Gemara of Babylon, has 
long been regarded by the Jewish people, aud is 
still regarded, with th^ highest veneration. We 



158 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

do not profess to be able to discuss tlie still de- 
bated question of its antiquity and authority, nor i? 
sucb discussion at all necessary for our purpose. 
It is admitted freely, that much of what the Tal- 
mudical books contain was current among the 
Jev^s in the time of Christ, and probably long be- 
fore it, and therefore it is possible that he may have 
borrowed from this source. It is admitted, also, 
that these books present some important religious 
and moral truths ; but it is at the same time just as 
undoubted, that the mass of their contents is friv- 
olous, and even false. At all events, the Jews 
themselves do not deny that these writings are far 
inferior to the ancient inspired Scriptures. They 
may interpret, expand, or impress the revelations 
of the Old Testament, but they themselves offer no 
new revelation, and add nothing to the divine light 
before shed down from heaven. It will, therefore, 
be satisfactory and direct, at once to compare the 
teaching of Jesus with the system of truth in the 
ancient Scriptures. 

lY. The peculiar poetical imagery, and the mag- 
nificent and gorgeous diction, which distinguish 
many passages of the Old Testament, are palpably 
wanting in the Christian Gospels. The lawgiver, 
the reformer, the poets, and the prophetic sages of 
ancient Israel speak in the name of Jehovah, in 
grand and solemn tones ; but in the New Testa* 



ANCIENT JEWISH SCRIPTURES. 159 

ment an apparently humble individual, using only 
tlie most familiar and simple language, claims to 
instruct the world ; so that if there be sublimity 
here, it must lie in the thoughts themselves, not at 
all in the form in which they are presented. Chris- 
tians have n ^t been reluctant to honor the inspired 
seers of Israel ; on the contrary, they entirely be- 
lieve that the Old Testament and the New are not 
hostile, but harmonious revelations. They find in 
the ancient devotional poetry of the Jews a pro- 
found analysis of religious experience, and a fresh- 
ness and fervor of pious feeling altogether unsur- 
passed, and they rejoice to acknowledge that there 
is a large amount of imperishable truth which is 
common to both Scriptures. But that the later is 
borrowed from the earlier^ and is only an imitation, 
a repetition of it, is not only denied, but it is main- 
tained that this is both more lucid and more complete 
than that^ and also contains discoveries which are 
entirely unknown to the more ancient book. We 
look in vain in the Old Testament for the radiant 
and overflowing benignity of the New — in vain for 
the universality, simplicity, and freedom that dis- 
tinguish the New. The doctrine of a reign of God 
in the minds and hearts of all men is not found 
there, nor the uniform assertion of the pure spirit- 
uality of worship, and of the purely spiritual nature 
of the Great Object of worship, nor the luminous 
revelation of the soul in its reality, greatness, ac- 



160 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

countabilitj, and endless life, or of that attribute 
of the divine nature which most of all endears God 
to man — Paternity. The soul and the Father of 
the soul, the return of the soul to its Father, and 
the reign of the Father in the soul, these, in their 
highest form, belong peculiarly to the teaching of 
Jesus, and they exalt it, immeasurably above not 
only all Talmudical and Eabbinical writings, but 
even the divine oracles of an earlier age. 

Y. About three hundred years before Christ, 
Athens, rich in great men and in systems and sects, 
listened to the claim of a new teacher, Zeno, the 
founder of a new school. The system of the Stoics 
merits attention in this place, not so much in its 
early as in its later form. It became at last a the- 
ology and an ethical code more than either a phys- 
ical or metaphysical philosophy, and at the com- 
mencement of the Christian era, and for two cen- 
turies later, it exerted no inconsiderable influence on 
the world. The names of Zeno, of Cleanthes, of 
Epictetus, and of Marcus Antoninus, are not for- 
gotten at this day, by those who are interested in 
the genuine efforts of the human soul, and who 
watch the strugglings of the light of God with the 
darkness of the world. At the same time, it must 
not be forgotten, that the stoicism which is repre- 
sented to us by this name was the product, not of 
a single mind, but of the combined efforts of many 



STOICISM. 161 

noble minds for a succession of ages. Thej, wise- 
ly profiting by tbe defects and errors of other sys- 
tems, extracting however the best portions of them 
and making important additions to them, succeeded 
at last in forming a new whole, which reflected 
great glory on the intellectual and moral powers 
which were capable of producing it. It was this 
finished and final form of the stoical system which 
was extensively embraced before the age of Jesus, 
and for two centuries later. And it is this, the work 
of many minds and many ages, which is to be 
compared with the labors of a single person during 
a course of only three years, the probabiUty, amount- 
ing nearly to certainty, being that the work was 
indebted to this very person for some of its later 
and most valuable peculiarities. 

It would be easy, without any injustice, to pro- 
duce a humiliating account of the errors of stoicism. 
We can not wonder that, on subjects which to this 
day defy speculation, such as the essential nature 
of things, the reasonings of the Stoics should be 
puerile and contradictory. The idea of infinity or 
incorporeity, they were able to attach to nothing, 
except the vacuum which encompasses the universe. 
An infinite, even an incorporeal God in the proper 
sense of the term, they 'knew not. Philosophers 
of this school speak of the incorporeal reason, but 
they can mean only the unemhodied TQO^son, Be- 
tween God and mattei they recognized no essential 



162 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

distinction, and their highest conception of the dif- 
ference was expressed when they said that Grod was 
the informing principle of matter. Hence many of 
them identified God with the ether, which spreads 
itself over the exterior surface of the heavens ; and 
this ethereal substance they imagined contained the 
vital principles from which all forms of existence 
are produced, but not by the will of a creator, but 
by necessity of nature. If to them Keason or 
God was underived, so also was the matter of the 
universe. By no sect was the doctrine of absolute 
fate more thoroughly adopted than by the Stoics. 
As they invariably represent it, a necessary chain of 
causes and effects encircles the whole universe, the 
divine reason and material things alike. " What- 
ever that be," says Seneca, '•'■ which has determined 
our lives and our deaths, it binds the gods also by 
the same necessity. Human and divine things alike 
are carried along in an irrevocable course.'* ^ 

Large and j ust exception must be taken to the 
doctrine of this school on the subject of moral ex- 
cellence, its foundation, its nature, and its laws. 
Piety toward God, as they described it, is little else 
than a callous surrender to irresistible fate ; self- 
government is crucifixion of the best affections of 
the heart; the highest crime against God and 

^ Quidquid est quod nos siv. vivere jussit sic mori, eadem ne' 
cessitato et Deos alligat. Irrevocabilis hum ana pariter ac divi- 
na cursus vehit. — Seneca, Op. Parisiis, 1'761, p. 78. 



STOICISM. 163 

against nature, self-destruction, is vindicated, and, 
in certain circumstances, even commanded as a duty ; 
and benevolence, instead of being generous love, is 
devotion to an abstract idea, a cold calculation, an act 
of homage to reason. The human race is a unity, 
of which no part can be injured without evil 
to all the rest; and such injury, therefore, they 
argued, it is the part of wisdom to prevent or rem- 
edy. The obvious tendency of some parts of the 
stoical system was to nourish pride, to create heart- 
lessness, and even hypocrisy, and to make men un- 
natural and artificial. The virtuous Stoic was 
proudly and coldly strong, was superior to pleasure 
and pain, would relieve the afflicted, and protect 
himself against personal injury, but would at the 
same time, repress all pity for others, and all sor- 
row on his own account. 

But, in spite of numerous and serious errors, the 
ethical system of the Stoics was wonderfully grand, 
and wonderfully pure. When we think of princi- 
ples like the following — " that the highest end of 
life is to contemplate truth, and to obe}^ the Eter- 
nal Reason and the immutable law of the universe ; 
that God is to be revered above all beings, to be 
acknowledged in all events, and to be universally 
submitted to ; that the noblest ofi&ce of wisdom is 
to subject the passions, dispositions, and conduct to 
reason and virtue ; that virtue is the supreme good, 
and is to be pursued for its own sake, and not from 



164 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

fear or from hope ; that it is sufficient for happiness, 
and is seated only in the mind, and being so, ren- 
ders men independent of all external events, and 
happy in every condition ; that the consciousness 
of well-doing is reward enough without the ap- 
plause or approbation of others, without even their 
knowledge of our good deeds, and that no prospect 
of self-indulgence, and no fear of loss, or pain, or 
death must be suffered to turn us aside from truth 
and virtue ;" — when we hear such principles as these 
distinctly maintained by the sages of this school, it 
is impossible to withhold from them our admiration, 
and to repress a profound feeling of thankfulness to 
the Great Grod. These are some of the redeeming fea- 
tures of the stoical morality, which rendered it in- 
comparably superior to all the ancient sj^stems, 
with one wonderful exception, the system of which 
Socrates was the founder and Plato the chief ex- 
positor.' 

YI. Upward of a hundred years earlier than 

* In the EncMridion of Epictetus, and in his lectures (both 
compiled by his disciple Arrian), and in the writings of Seneca, 
especially his De Providentia, De Sapientis Constantia, De Bre- 
vitate Vitae, and De Vita Beata, the errors and the excellences 
of Stoicism are fully discovered. Very tonchingly also, are wo 
brought into contact with the system, as a personal experience, 
in the Meditations of Aurelins. "Marci Antonini Imperatoris, 
eorum quae ad seipsum, libri XII." Oxon. 1704. Especially lib. 
iv. cap. 10, 24, 29, 83, 34, 41, 44, 45; also in some parts of th* 
Noctes Atticas of Aulus Gellius. 



SOCBATICISM OE PLATONTSM. 165 

the time of Zeno, Socrates questioned, perplexed, 
stimulated, and instructed tlie people of Athens. 
His name, and that of his disciple Plato, are asso- 
ciated with what is justly regarded as the most 
luminous and refreshing passage of ancient profane 
history, whether as it respects philosophy or as it 
respects religion. The philosophy of Plato differs 
in form, still more in its details, and especially in 
its completeness and refinement, from that of Soc- 
rates ; but in ethics and religion the master and the 
disciple are entirely identified ; and it would be 
idle to attempt to distinguish between them. 

About the time of Christ, or shortly afterward, 
a profound interest in the doctrines of Socrates and 
Plato was awakened throughout the Jewish world, 
by the writings of Philo of Alexandria. These 
writings are a compound of Judaism, Orientalism, 
and Platonism ; but the Platonic element very de- 
cidedly predominates. It may be safely pronounced 
impossible that Jesus of Nazareth can have been 
acquainted with the works of the Alexandrian 
Jew. It is quite incapable of proof, and is most 
improbable, that any of these works were even in 
existence, in the lifetime of Christ. If they were, 
it can have been only a short while , and nothing 
is more unlikely than that Jesus, in an obscure vil- 
lage, and in the position of a working man, had 
even heard of them, far less examined them. The 
fact, however, is interesting, and it directly bears 



166 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

on our investigation, that not only the Gentile, but 
even the Jewish world, during the primitive age of 
Christianity, was familiar with the system of Soc- 
rates and Plato. 

It is not necessary here to point out the defects 
and errors of that system. They are confessedly 
important and numerous. For example, Socrates 
distinctly maintained the pre-existence of human 
souls, before their entrance into the bodies of the 
present race of men. He taught also the transmi- 
gration of souls — at least their possible occupation 
of other bodies after the death of those they now 
inhabit — and, as the punishment of their vice, their 
occupation of the bodies of irrational animals. It 
must be admitted further^ that his reasonings on the 
immortality of the soul are not seldom as unsatis- 
factory as they are subtle and refined. And then, 
the last words which he uttered, desiring that an 
offering he had vowed to Esculapius might be paid 
by his friends, are a melancholy testimony against 
him. It was clearly his conviction, that a wise 
and good man ought to worship the gods recog- 
nized by the country to which he belonged. ' His 
faith in a plurality of objects of worship was un- 
disguised and sincere ; but it is at the same time as 

' Hence Xenophon expresses his amazement that Socrates waa 
charged \^ith denying th* gods of Atliens, as if nothing could 
be more utterly groundless : wf ovk evo/ui^ev ovg r] izoXiq vojj.il^ec 
d-eoi)^ Tcoiii) TTor' expvoavro reKfirjpcu. — Comment lib. i. cap. 1, 2. 
Berol. 1845. 



LIFE OF SOCRATES. 167 

certain that lie recognized and adored a Supreme 
Grod, the Almighty Creator and Euler; and he 
speaks of this Being in language which may well 
excite astonishment. " He, who arranges and up- 
holds the universe, who is the fountain of all that 
is beautiful and good, and who, for the use of his 
creatures, maintains the creation always uninjured, 
entire, and undecaying ; . . . this Being, conduct- 
ing these affairs, is invisible to us, yet is made 
manifest by the grandeur of his operations." ^ Soc- 
rates maintained that the first principles of moral- 
ity, which are common to all mankind, are laws of 
the Supreme ; and the distinction between them 
and mere human laws he finds in the fact, that they 
can never be transgressed with impunity. " They 
who violate the laws established by the gods suffer 
a penalty which it is not possible to escape in any 
such waj^, as some who violate the laws established 
by men are able to escape the consequences of 
transgression." ^ 

The life of Socrates must not be overlooked, 
when attempting, in however brief a manner, to 

J 6 Tov blov Koa/xov avvraTTUv fe kol avvexoiv, ^v w irdvra Til 
KaTid Kal dyaOd kaxL, Kal del jutv xpf^f^^^otg drqi6ri re icai vytd koI 

dyTjpaTOv Trapexf^v. ovrog rd' fieytara ju^v Trpdrruif 

cpdrai, rdde 6i: oIkovo/liuv doparog rj[Mv eariv. — Comment, lib. 4. 
cap. 3. 13. 

2 uXV ovv d'LKTjv ye tol di^oaaLv ol TzapaSatvovTeg rovg vko rut 
'&ecjv KetfiEvovQ vofiovg^ rjv ov6evl rpoTcu dvvarov dvdptoTiu dcacpvyelv, 
uanep rodg {itto dvOpuiruv Keifxevovg vojuovg Ivioi -rapaSaivovTe^ 
ivat^evyovoL to 6lk7jv 6i66vai. — Idem. cap. 4. 21. 



168 THE CHEIST OF HISTOEY. 

understand and estimate his system. The testimo- 
ny of those who knew him best is unshaken by all 
the efforts that have been made to overthrow it ; 
and there is no sufficient reason to doubt that he 
was a sincere, upright, disinterested man, and, 
withal, singularly pious, according to the light he 
had received. His disciple and intimate friend, 
Xeuophon, declares that he never undertook any 
work without first asking counsel of the gods. A 
sense of Grod, a strong faith in the influence of Grod, 
and a deep desire to be governed by it, were habit- 
ual to his soul ; and, in all probability, this is the 
amount of what he intended to convey, when he 
constantly and openly referred to a demon — -a pre- 
siding spirit within him — whose voice he had heard 
and obeyed from his childhood. The idea on 
which the public life of this man was founded, is 
unusually impressive. The youth of Athens had 
long been corrupted, as he thought, by a class of 
instructors who set little value on what they taught 
or others believed, but great value on dialectic 
power and rhetorical art, by means of which even 
falsehood might be commended to the minds of 
men. Socrates resolved to lift up goodness and 
truth, in themselves, as the noblest end of living ; 
and to show that the office of philosophy was to 
deliver mankind from the dominion of prejudice, 
ignorance, and vice, to inspire them with the love 
of virtue, and, through a careful intellectual and 



DEFENSE OF SOCRATES. 169 

moral discipline, to guide them to Lappiness. His 
position, from the first, was that of a philosophic 
moralist; and, choosing Athens as his sphere, he 
devoted his life to the diffusion of what he believed 
to be the highest truth. His entire time was spent 
in this work ; he sought for scholars, not only among 
men of rank, but also among laborers and mechan- 
ics ; and, contrary to the general practice in that 
day, he exacted no remuneration from those who 
attached themselves to his school. '' It does not 
accord with what is usual among men," he says, in 
his memorable defense, " that I have neglected all 
that belongs to myself, and have tolerated for so 
many years this neglect of my private affairs. Your 
concerns, on the other hand, I have constantly at- 
tended to, appealing to you individually, like a 
father, or an elder brother, and urging you to the 
cultivation of virtue. If, indeed, I had gained any 
thing by this means, and had accepted payment for 
my exhortations, there might have been some rea- 
son for my conduct ; .... it appears to me that I 
offer proof sufficient that I am speaking truly, when 
I name my poverty ^ ' The man who thus spoke 

^ ov yap dv6pco7Tcv(f) eouce to efie tC)v jutv efxavrov tnrdvTcjv t/jue- 
TiTjich'ai, ical dvEX^cidac ruv oUeiuv djue?iov/uevo)v roaavra 7/6r/ errj, to 
6i v/jLETepov TcpuTTELv uEL, Idla EnaaTO) TvpoGLovTa uanEp Ttartpa 7} 
d6£?\.(j)dv npEoOvTEpov, TzeWovTa E7nfi.e7i£7adac dpeTTjQ. kol eI jjevTOi 
XL and TovTcjv dneXavov, kol jilcOov ?Mfj.6uv(jv, tuvtc TTapsice'kEvo- 

fiTjv, elxev uv riva "h/oyov iKavov yap oljuai, iyu KapExofJ.ai 

Tov [xdprvpa cjc dlrjOr] Myo, t'/)v ireviav. — Apol. Soc. in PlaL 
oper, Lipsiae, 1829, torn. i. p. 63. 
8 



170 THE CHRIST OF HISTOKY. 

was often perseeuted bj the vicious and the false in 
the course of his life. "You, my fellow citizens," 
he said, appealing to themselves for the truth of his 
statements, " have been unable to tolerate my man- 
ners and my words ; they have grown ever more 
and more oppressive and hatefal to you, so that 
you now long to be relieved from them." ' At last 
he was condemned to death ; and for this reason, 
chiefly, whatever the ostensible grounds might be, 
that his fellow-citizens could no longer endure his 
merited rebukes. 

The defense of Socrates, followed as it was by 
his death, is perhaps the most remarkable, all cir- 
cumstances considered, of human productions. He 
describes the aim of his life: — ^" I pass my. time 
doing nothing but persuade you, both young and 
old, to care so earnestly neither for the body, nor 
for treasures, nor for any other thing, as for the 
soul, by what means it may be ennobled in the 
highest degree."'* He announces his settled reso- 
lution, whatever it may cost : — '^ Oh, Athenians, I 
esteem and love you, but I shall obey Grod rather 
than you. ; and while I live, and as far as lies in 

1 vfieig juiv ovTsg TroTuTat fiov, ovx oloi r' eyeveaOe hsyKelv tuc 
ijia'^ diarpLSag Kot rovg Xoyovg, d7^X vlfiv fSapvrepaL ytybvaaL koX 
im(p6ovo)Tepac uare ^7]teIte avrdjv vvvl u.TTa?Ji.c vrjvat. — Idem. p. 72. 

2 Ov6ev yap aA/o TrpuTTUv eyd TiCptepxofiai rj 7rsc6tjv vfiuv koI 
veuTepovg Kal TrpeaSvrepovg fiTJre oo)/J,dTcjv Ein/ue?i£ladai, jurJTe XPV- 
liuTLdv rrporepov fiTjre dXkov Ttvoq ovru a<f)6dpa ug rrjg ijjvx^g oTtuf 
<jf upicTrj IfsraL. — Avol. p. 61. 



DEFENSE OF SOCRATES. 171 

me, I sliall never cease pliilosopbizing, or urging 
and remonstrating with whomsoever I may meet,- 
in the very ?ame terms I have been wont to use." * 
He presents a confession of his faith on a most im- 
portant subject: — " I declare that the highest good 
to man is this, to spend every day in forming opin- 
ions respecting virtue and other subjects, such as 
you have heard me discussing, scrutinizing both 
myself and others ; and that a life without inquiry 
is no life for man."'^ 

After the sentence of death had been pronounced, 
he tells his judges that he might have escaped had 
he employed another method of defense. But he 
adds : " It is no matter of regret to me now, that I 
have defended myself in this manner, but I should 
much prefer death from taking this course, to life 
on that ground (that is, having followed any other 
course) .... This truly is hard, oh Athenians, to 
escape death ; but it is far more difficult to avoid 
wickedness."^ "You, therefore, oh my judges, 

1 'EytJ vfid^, 0) uvSpec 'Ad/jvaioi, uaTrd^o/xat fzev koI (pl^u, neico' 
fzai 6^ rw Oecj judXTiOv ?} vfiTv, kul ^uarrep dv efiTTveu koI olog re 
(!j, ov jLti) Travaofxac (pL^^oaocpuv, Kal vjilv napaKelevojuevog re /cat iv' 
dELKvvfj.evog, oro) dv dec evTvyxdvu vjuuv Tityov oidrcep elo)6a.--> 
Idem, p. 60. 

2 Xeyo on Kal Tvyx^vei /.ih/Larov dyadbv dv dvSpuTro) tovto, 
kKdaTTjg rjjuspac rrepl uperr/g rovg Tioyovg •noLeladaL, Kal rcJv dXkav 
Trepl cju vjLieTg kfiov rjKOvere Sia^eyojiivov^ Kal ijiavrbv Kal dT^Tiovg 
e^erd^ovrog, 6 6i avs^haoTog j3[og, ov [SiQTdg dvdpuTvu. — Idem, p. 71. 

3 ovTE vvv fiOL fierafieXei ovrug dnoAoyTjaajuevG), a/lXd ttoIv [xdTi- 

Tiov alpovpLat uSe dTTo7ioyrjad[ievog TEdvdvat ?/ kKEivug (^rjv 

Tovr' T) ;^;aAe7r6v, cj uvdpeg *K6qva'iOi, '&dvaTOv, iKipvystv dXXd iroTi'i 
XakETXUTEpiv, noviipiav. — Idem, p. 74. 



172 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

ought to be hopeful in reference to death, and to 
keep in mind this one truth, that there is nothing 
evil to a good man, whether in life or in death, 
nor are the matters which concern him neglected 
bj the gods." ^ "• I am not at all incensed against 
those who have condemned me, or mj accusers." ^ 
*' If one, arriving at Hades, shall be set free from so 
called judges, and shall find righteous judges, . . . 

would this be distressing banishment ? For 

my part, I should be willing to die often, if this be 
true." ' 

After his condemnation, awaiting the hour of his 
martyrdom, Socrates spoke in such language as the 
following, to the friends who continued their faith- 
ful attendance upon him : — " It would be ridiculous 
for a man who during his life has habituated him- 
self to live like one who was very near to death, to 
be afterward distressed v/hen this event (which he 

had long anticipated) actually overtook him 

Shall one who verily loves wisdom, and entertains 
the strong hope that he shall find that which de- 

^ 'A/lAd Kal vjudc xPVj <^ avdpeg dtKaorai, evi'XnLSac elvai Trpof 
Tdv -d-dvarovy Koi iv rt tovto diavosladac u?.7]deg, otl ovk eartv uvdpl 
dyadu KUKov ov6^v ovts I^Qvti ovre Te?,evT7JaavTL, ovS^ u/neleTTai 
ind '&euv rd tovtov Tcpdyfiara. — Idem^ p. 19. 

2 'Eycjye roZg KaTaip7j(j)iaa/uevoi^ fiov Kal Tolg KaTTjynpoig ov rcdvv 
XalE'Kalvo). — Idem, p, 79, 

3 Elydp Tig dipLKOjievog elg uSov, uTraTiXayeig tovtcjvI rijv ^a- 
cKovTov diKacTuv elvaL evpTJaeL rovg 6g dTiTjdug dcKaardg, ..... 

dpa (pavlj] dv elr] y dTtodTj/xla eyd fiev yap Trol/la/ctjt 

Ide'kui redvdvai, el ravrd kariv dTiiiBri. — 7c?em, pp. TT, 78. 



CHEISTIAN VIEW OF SOCRATES. 173 

Berves this name nowhere except in Hades (shall 
such a man) instead of rejoicing to depart, be af- 
flicted at dying?" ' '' Does not the soul thus con- 
ditioned (the wise and good soul) depart to that 
which is congenial to its nature, to the unseen, the 
divine, the undying, the wise ? Arriving there (in 
Hades); its lot is to be blessed, to be emancipated 
from error and ignorance, and fears, and wild ap 
petites, and all other earthly evils ; and, as is said 
in reference to the initiated, truly does it spend the 
remainder of existence with the gods." ^ 

These were the words of a heathen, nearly &Ye 
hundred years before the advent of Jesus Christ, 
of a man who had never seen a line of revelation, 
so called, and could have had no knowledge of the 
existence of such a thing ; a man who lived in the 
very center of polytheism, who was himself a 
child and an avowed disciple of polytheism, and 
who to the last religiously observed the worship of 

1 TeAolov dv elr], uvdpa napaaKEVui^ovd' kavrbv kv rcj /5f6j otl 
iyyvTuTu bvra tov redvuvai ovro ^v, K^Treid' tjkovto^ avrC) tovtov, 

dyavaicTelv (ppovTjcreug de upa rig rcj bvTt ipuv, Kol 

7\.a6uv a^podpa r?)v avr^v ravTijr klirida, fiTjdajuov uXKoQl hrev- 
^eadat avry d^iug "kbyov^ r) kv aSov, dyavaKTrjosi re UTrodvTJaKCJV, 
Kal ovK da/LLEvog elatv avrboe. — Ph<xdo in Plat. oper. ut supra, 
torn. i. pp. 116, 117. 

3 OvKovv ovTO) fz^v e;j;oi;CTa, elg to b/J,oTov avTy to deiSeg direpx^Tai, 
TO ■&E\bv TE Kal dddvuTov Kal (ppovijuov ; ol d<piKOfj,( i tj vTcupx^i' avTy 
evdaifiovt elvai, rrXdvrjg Kal dyvolag Kal <p66cjv Kal dypiov epciruv 
Kal Tuv uXTiuv KaKcJv TcJv dvdpcjTTEiuv dK7j?i7iayfj.£vri' wcTrfo di 
XiyETai Kard ruv jLtEfivrjfievov, cjf dlrjOcJc rbv loin tv x^bvov nerd 
^euv diuyovca. — Idem, p. 138. 



174 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

inferior divinities. His name and that of Plato, 
and the names also of Zeno, and Epictetus, and 
Antoninus, have come down to our times associated 
with the sentiments which have been quoted. The 
hope is not vain that, in that dark day, and be- 
neath all the polluting shadows of paganism, there 
may have been many, like to these sages, of whom 
no record has descended. Above all, we can be- 
lieve that there may have been multitudes of the 
obscurer classes on whom the influence of Socrates^ 
Plato^ and others came down as a healing and puri- 
fying power. The hope is inexpressibly refreshing 
to the Christian soul. God, who, for the sake of 
the world, and in order to preserve to it the truth 
which it had well-nigh lost, conferred singular dis- 
tinction on Judea, had not abandoned the rest of 
mankind, but drew near to them also, in his secret 
illuminations and in his sanctifying agencies. The 
Holy Ghost that touched the soul of Hebrew proph- 
ets and teachers, also brooded over the spiritual 
chaos of the old pagan world, so that gleams of 
divine light flashed many times across the deep of 
ignorance and moral evil. It enhances the value 
of ancient Holy Scripture, it even adds a new sig- 
nificance to it, when we come to know that, far 
away from its sphere, the erring soul of man was 
always struggling toward the source of light, and 
that from the uncreated sun there fell upon it many 
a sanctifying and guiding ray. The direct and 



CHRISTIANITY AND SOCRATICISM. 175 

special provision for tlie coming of the promised 
Saviour of men, wliich was made in the Jewish in- 
stitutions and worship, becomes not less, but more 
precious, when we understand that, at the same 
time, over all the world, in the efforts of the human 
reason, the agitations of the human conscience; and 
the ceaseless tumult of human affairs, God was 
conducting, by the merciful influence of his Spirit, 
a more general preparation for the same grand 
event. To the Spirit of the living Grod, striving 
with man every where and always, must be traced 
whatever moral goodness and holy truth sprung up 
in the ungenial soil of ancient paganism. The fact 
of such divine striving recognized, our first feeling 
is unfeigned thankfulness to Grod; the second is 
deep sympathy with human souls in the day of the 
world's darkness, with wise, earnest, virtuous souls 
in the agony of their search after truth, and in the 
burden of uncertainty, disappointment, and fear 
by which they were often crushed. In the number 
of these ancient spiritual heroes, none wiser or 
nobler shall we find than Socrates and his illus- 
trious disciple. In their case, we recognize with 
joy a merciful agency of God. Instead of seeking 
to depreciate the recorded sayings of the Athenian 
sage, we acknowledge with wonder that, in some 
of the highest regions of moral inquiry, they em- 
body an amount of truth which, in justice to hu- 
manity, to spiritual providence, and to the very 



176 THE CHEIST OF HISTOHY. 

office of Christ, Christians above all men are 
bound to understand and extol. 

But, by the side of the best of all tbe ancient 
systems of morality and religion, we are now pre- 
pared to place the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, 
and, with this view, we shall first recall, in the 
briefest form, the chief subjects of that teaching. 

" A universal spiritual reign, the reign of recti- 
tude, purity, wisdom, truth, love, and peace, the 
reign of God in the understanding, conscience, 
heart, and will of men." "Human sin, Divine 
pardon." '* Prayer." " Providence." " Worship." 
" Human virtue grounded in piety toward Grod." 
" Among the essential elements of virtue, humility, 
meekness, forgiveness, pure love, self-sacrifice." 
"■ Piety and virtue, a true life of Grod in tlie soul." 
*' Spiritual truth received into the soul, the seed of 
this Divine life, and the germ of the reign of God 
in man." 

Yet more specially : " The doctrine of the human 
soul, its reality, greatness, accountability, and end- 
less life." " The doctrine of God, his Spirituality, 
Unity, Moral Perfection, and Paternity." " The 
doctrine of the reconciliation of the soul and God ; 
Grod in his holy mercy looking upon the soul ; and 
the soul, in penitence, faith, and filial obedience, 
yielding itself to God." 

This enumeration is almost enough ; there are 
doctrines here of inexpressible importance, perfect- 



CHEISTIANITY AND SOCRATICISM. 17T 

Ij original. To name no others, those of sin and 
pardon, of virtue, as summed up in pure love, in 
sacrifice and service for others, of an ever brighten- 
ing and ho] J immortality, and of God's fatherhood, 
iave no place in the sayings of the Athenian phi- 
losopher. Altogether we behold here an original- 
ity, a consistency, a living energy, a grandeur, and 
a depth which can be found nowhere else. Socrates 
and Plato astonish U3 by the utterance of imperish- 
able and -grand ideas ; bu.t they are not only few in 
number, but are unconnected. Christ offers to the 
world an extended and harmonious multitude of 
spiritual doctrines. He, too, is the only teacher 
who always speaks with certainty and precision. 
The disciples of Socrates were often left in deep 
perplexity by their master. One occasion may be 
instanced: when he was conducting a discussion 
with two of their number respecting the immortal- 
ity of the soul. " They (that is Socrates, and Cebes, 
and Simmias) seemed to disturb us afresh, though 
we had been fully convinced by the previous argu- 
ments, and to plunge us again into unbelief."^ 
This was the frequent experience of the best men 
in the ancient world, in reference to the most vital 
questions, on which, at other times we find them ex- 
pressing the utmost certainty. Even Socrates often 

1 'Tird Tov eixirpoadei \byov G(j)6dpa rrEiveic/xevovg ^fxuc ixd7.LV 
kSoKovv dvarapu^ai /cat el^ urcian xv KaraSalelv. — Phcedo in PlaL 
oper. torn. i. p. 150. 

8* 



178 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

employed sucTi ambiguous language as tlie following : 
"i^deatli be a removal hence to another place, and 
if what is said of the dead be true," — "those who 
live there (that is in Hades) are thenceforth immor- 
tal — if Sit least what is said be true." The conclud- 
ing words of his apology were these : — " But the 
hour of separation has now come ; I go to die, you 
to live ; but which of us is destined to an improved 
being is concealed from every one except God." * 
On the great subjects of futurity, the soul, and God, 
Socrates often utters profound and imperishable 
truth ; but even on these, as well as less moment- 
ous questions, he sometimes exhibits lamentable 
hesitation and doubt. The teaching of Jesus 
Christ, on the other hand, is a region of unclouded 
and serene light. From the firsts a deep conviction 
is awakened that here is perfect knowledge and faith 
which can not be shaken. Christ reveals many 
truths unheard before ; but both on these and on 
sucb as may be found elsewhere; he exhibits un- 
wavering certainty. On all the great subjects of his 
ministry, his utterances are determinate and uniform. 
Not a shadow even of hesitation rests for a moment 
on his language. The conflict of other minds be- 
tw^een faith and doubt he knew not ; but however 
high the subject, and environed with difficulties, 

1 'A/lAii ycip 7/dr] upa uTTtevai, ifcol juev diroBavovfiEVU, v/itv 6e 
(3L0)aofievocg. oTTorepot 6^ ijixQv epxovrac im ufieivov npdyfic^ 
udrj'kov ■navTi ttXtjv r) tu ■&eCi. — Apol. tora, i. p. 79. 



CHRISTIANITY AND SOORA1[CISM. 179 

he spoke with absolute but meek assurance. Al- 
ways and every where, he spoke with absolute but 
meek assurance. 

Christ, also, is the only teacher who always ex- 
presses himself, not only without doubt, but with- 
out effort. Socrates and Plato reach some lofty 
and holy thoughts, but it is with great labor, and 
after protracted and severe study. Jesus Christ 
utters the highest truths with perfect facility, and 
presents them in familiar and simple language. He 
has needed no laborious and prolonged search, he 
employs no severity of argument, and gives no 
sign of effort. Truth is native to his soul, and Ms 
words are the immediate and natural and unlabored 
outpourings of the fullness of his mind. 

We are constrained to ask, wbo was this Jesus 
Christ ; what could he be, when even the sage of 
Athens suffers by comparison with him ? While 
this question waits solution, differences between 
Christ, and Socrates, and Plato, still wider and 
more startling than those which have been named, 
crowd upon the mind. 

First. — Socrates must have labored thirty or 
forty years as a teacher of Philosophj^, and Plato a 
still longer period, hoth ever necessarily increasing 
their power, as well of acquiring as of communi- 
cating truth. Jesus Christ labored only three years. 

Second. — Socrates had advanced to the middle 
period of life before he assumed the position of a 



180 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

public guide, and he was in his seventieth year 
when he died. Plato also took no part in forming 
the minds of others till he had reached middle life, 
and he was in his eighty -first year when he died. 
Jesus Christ was only thirty -three when he was cut 
off, quite a young man. 

Third. — Socrates, before he ventured to teach, 
spent many consecutive years under the most cele- 
brated philosophers then in Grreece, in studying all 
the branches of learning with which that age was 
conversant. Plato having before been taught by 
other celebrated masters, was for eight years a pupil 
of Socrates, After the death of Socrates, he spent 
many years in traveling into various and remote 
countries, in pursuit of knowledge in all its branch- 
es, conversing v/ith the priests of Egypt, perhaps 
even the sages of India, certainly the philosophers 
of Italy and Greece. Jesus Christ was never be- 
yond the limits of Judea in his life, excepting in 
childhood. He had access to no famous school and 
to no celebrated masters in his own or other coun- 
tries. The common amount of education he may 
have received, and for the rest he wrought with his 
hands to gain his daily bread. In place of study, 
there was only manual labor up to the time when 
he began to teach the world. 

The question must be renewed, and with an earn- 
estness yet more intense, who was this Jesua 
Christ ? The three pomts of contrast just named 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 181 

between him and Socrates and Plato, do not ex- 
haust his history. The whole of the onter condi- 
tions of his earthly life, even at the risk of repe- 
tition, must be deliberately placed before our minds. 
Jesus Christ was a man of Nazareth, in Galilee of 
Judea, whom no hint of the learning and science 
of other lands and of the discoveries and specula- 
tions of the world's sages, could by any possibility 
have reached. He was a man of humble origin ; 
his parents, his relatives, his associates, were all 
poor, and he himself was poor, to the last verj^ poor. 
He was a working carpenter, and had spent his life 
in a workshop till he was thirty years of age. He 
had enjoyed no advantages of education, of access 
to books, or of introduction to superior society, but 
such as were open to the lowest of the people. He 
was unaided by the patronage of the wise or the 
great. He was a young man who died at the age 
of thirty-three. But this person, in a ministry of 
three years, did infinitely more for mankind and 
for all succeeding ages, than either Socrates or Pla- 
to, or both together were able to do, each with the 
labor of thirty or forty years, with all their matu- 
rity of wisdom, and experience, and with all the 
advantages of learning, and travel, and patronage. 
What the wisest and brightest souls in the ancient 
world, what even the inspired prophets of Israel 
never accomplished, was accomplished by a young ^ 
obscure, Galilean mechanic. 



182 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

Even if the teaching of Josus Christ had beeu 
inferior in substance and in form to that of Socrates 
and Plato, the overwhelming differences between 
him and them which have been named would yet 
have defied all the ordinary methods and means of 
interpretation. But how much more must this be 
true, Avhen that teaching is not inferior, when it 
has been proved to be incomparably superior ! 
It exhibits doctrines infinitely momentous which 
were unknown in Athens and in Kome. What is 
still more, it may be affirmed without misgiving, 
that of all the spiritual truth existing in the. world 
at this moment, not only is there not a single im- 
portant idea which is not found in the words of 
Christ, but all the most important ideas can be found no- 
w^here else, and have their sole fountain in his mind. 
From his mind there shone a light which neither 
Egypt, nor India, nor Greece, nor Eome, had ever 
kindled, which no age before his day ever saw, and 
none since, except in him alone, has ever seen. 

These, then, are the simple historical facts of 
Christ's state on earth, on the one hand, and of his 
worh among men on the other hand ; and they 
demand interpretation. The supposition that he 
was merely a messenger and a prophet of Grod, a 
man divinely selected and furnished for a Godlike 
"work, does not satisfy, never can satisfy, the extra- 
ordinary conditions of the case. The world has 
heard the voice of many God-sent men, the organs 



THE DIVINITY OF JHRIST. 183 

througb. wliich imperisliable trutb, in various 
amounts, has been conveyed ; but not one of these 
can, on any just ground, be likened for a moment 
to Jesus Christ. We have found that he is not 
merely different from them, but, in the most mate- 
rial respects, incomparably above them all. Hence 
an explication which is perfectly reasonable and 
adequate in their case, is palpably insufficient, is 
unsatisfactory and useless, in his case. He stands 
unapproachably distant from all that ever were 
honored with a Divine mission ; he is not a link in 
a chain of succession, but is absolutely alone, and 
has no predecessor and no successor. The multi- 
tude, the originality, the harmony, and the grand- 
eur of his revelations, separate him, by an impassa- 
ble line, from all that arose before his time and the 
fact that in two thousand years not a single import- 
ant contribution has been added to the body of 
spiritual truth which he left, cuts off all succession. 
He is alone in that work, immeasurably transcend- 
ing all others in human history, which he achieved 
for the world ; alone in the unexampled circum- 
stances amid which he accomplished it — -circum- 
stances which, according to all human modes of 
judging, seemed to render the accomplishment ab- 
solutely impossible ; and therefore alone in consti- 
tution of being, in attributes and in nature — organ- 
ically, essentially alone. 

The work of Christ, and the outer conditions of 



184 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

his life, as these have been represented by us — that 
is to say, the age and place in which he appeared, 
his early death, and his entire social circumstances 
and position — the work of Christ and the outer 
conditions of his life must be capable of being har- 
monized, for they were combined in fact. All admit, 
and are compelled to admit, that they were combined 
in fact. Skepticism is baseless, is impossible here. 
There stands the record ; say nothing of its inspir- 
ation so called, but its antiquity and general 
authenticity are indubitable, are, in point of fact, 
undoubted by all who have the slightest pretensions 
to learning or candor. There in the record, is the 
teaching, incomparable, alone. It is connected 
with the name of Jesus, it came from his mind ; if 
not, whence did it, could it come? To attribute it 
to the writers of the New Testament themselves 
makes no alteration in the difficulty, except to in- 
crease it indefinitely by the addition of new and 
more inexplicable circumstaoces. Among all con- 
cerned, the only individual to whose mind, with 
any show of reason, the teaching can be ascribed, 
is Jesus himself. Certainly he was the teacher, if 
there was a teacher at all ; and no subtlety of criti- 
cism, and no mythical theory, and no modification 
of it can set aside this fact. He, being w hat we 
have seen he was, in his external circumstances 
and history, was the teacher ; in other words, the 
work of Christ among men, and the outer condi- 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 185 

tions of his life, were combined in fact; and, there- 
fore, it can admit of no question that they mnst be 
capable of being harmonized in principle. But we 
repeat, that on all ordinary and acceptable grounds 
they are utterly irreconcilable. No record of his- 
tory, or of individual experience, and no law of the 
soul, lends us any assistance in this case ; but what 
we have to interpret, though once realized and pre- 
sented to the senses of men, is directly in the face 
of history, experience and psychology. Hence we 
maintain, and have no resource but to maintain, 
that the principle of harmony in this instance must 
be sought for, in a region altogether new and extra- 
prdinary — a region which ordinary history and ex- 
perience, and psychology, do not include. There 
must be some profound mystery in the very consti- 
tution of this Unique Personality, to account for 
such teaching as his in such circumstances as his. 
He can not be merely human, because human laws 
and human experience do not interpret the forma- 
tion of his life. He must be essentially and organ- 
ically separate from man, because the facts of his 
history transcend immeasurably all that mere man 
ever accomplished or attained. 

The case with which we have to deal may still 
further be briefly stated, thus : — " There are diffi- 
culties which every thoughtful mind must recog- 
nize, when we attempt to connect the teaching of 
Jesus Christ with the outer conditions of his life • 



186 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

the difficulties are real, great, -undeniable ; and tHe 
question is, liow shall tliey be best solved — wliich 
of the professed or possible solutions is most ration- 
al, most satisfactory ? In the outset, one thing is 
clear, that the Supreme Being must not be sup- 
posed to be limited, either in his choice of instru- 
ments to work out his purposes, or in his mode of 
employing their agency. Granting that there 
never was another such messenger of eternal truth 
as Jesus Christ, it does not follow, from this alone, 
that Jesus Christ was more than human. He who 
created the mind of man can surely impart his rev- 
elations to it in different matters and forms, and 
can act upon it in very different ways, when he 
pleases to use it, as the organ through which he 
shall teach the world. Successive and sudden in- 
spirations, rising one above another in amount and 
in kind, in a manner which it would be hard to 
limit, are in this way conceivable and possible. 
We can even go to the length of imagining the 
mind almost passive in the Divine hand, as in a 
kind of intellectual ecstacy or rapture — active, in- 
deed, in receiving, and afterward in conveying, 
what is imparted to it ; but yet its powers so held 
down and absorbed in the state of mere receptivity 
that it shall itself need, in common with others, to 
investigate, in order to understand, the messages 
of truth which it has announced. It is believed 
that in this way the ancient seers of Israel were 



THE DIVINITY OF CHEIST. 187 

sometimes mere organs through which inspirations 
passed from God to mankind, and were sometimes 
themselves as ignorant as others of the deep signif- 
icance of their own utterances. Such a thing, at 
least, is not in itself inconceivable, and it is not 
irreconcilable with the experience and the laws of 
the soul ; but it can afford us no help in solving 
the mystery of Christ's teaching. He was not a 
mere and almost passive channel of conveyance, 
from Grod to man He was not an instrument em- 
ployed on certain special occasions, which occasions 
having passed away the instrument remained the 
same as before, unpenetrated by any change aris- 
ing from the temporary purposes to which it had 
been applied. He was not an occasional, spasmod- 
ic, or ecstatic utterer of Divine messages ; but, dur- 
ing his whole ministry, though its period was short, 
he was a free, intelligent, deliberate utterer of truth 
which was his own, howsoever it had come to him. 
If there be one thing more certain than another, it 
is that Jesus spoke from himself, out of the depths 
of his own being. Whoever was his teacher, what- 
ever was the hidden process of instruction through 
which he had been conducted, and wherever might 
be the true source of his knowledge, that knowl- 
edge was his, truly his, dwelling in his understand- 
ing, his conscience, and his heart. That which he 
uttered to men had first become his own, inwoven 
with the very textrre of his soul, identified with 



188 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

its truest possessious, its freest moYements, its pro- 
gressive developments. It was not imxjosed at tho 
moment bj another, it was not an immediate irri' 
partaiion to him from without, but a true creation 
from within a produce of his own. His soul had 
risen to that truth which he announced, had mas- 
tered it, had verily hecome it ; so that not merely 
the glory of proclaiming it fell to Jesus, but all the 
inward opulence and power which the real knowl- 
edge of it supposed helonged to his mind. 

We assert, without fear of contradiction by any 
competent and candid thinker, that under the con- 
ditions amid which Jesus was placed, such knowl- 
edge and such spiritual opulence and power were 
morally and even physically impossible to a mere 
human mind. God never acts in defiance of the 
nature and laws of the soul, but always in harmony 
with them : we speak with reverence, God could not 
act in defiance of the laws of the soul which he 
has himself established. This is not the region of 
miracle, so called ; and mere physical omnipotence 
has no place here. Mind is not to be forced. God 
could destroy the soul ; but, continuing to be what 
it is, God can act upon it only in harmony with 
its laws. Now, the fact that a young man, only 
thirty-three, a poor man, a Galilean carpenter, un- 
educated, unprivileged, and unpatronized, rose to a 
profound, far-reaching, lofty wisdom, and to an 
illumination and wealth of soul which are without 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 189 

example in history, stands in direct contradiction 
to all other psychological experiences, and to all as- 
certained psychological laws. But it is a fact, never- 
theless ; and there must be some ground on which it 
can be explained. Jesus can not have been merely 
what he seemed to be, and his mind can not have 
been merely human, and in all respects constituted 
and conditioned as other human minds are. In 
sober reason, there is no choice left to us but to be- 
lieve in an organic, an essential, a constitutional 
difference between him and all men; in other 
words, in an incarnation, in this unparralleled in- 
stance, of Divinity in humanity.^ Admitting an 
original, an incomprehensible union between the 
mind of Christ and God — admitting a mysterious 
and constant access of Christ's mind to the infinite 
Fountain of illumination, of excellence, and of 
power, such as was possible to no mere human heing 
— then, but only then, we can account for spiritual 
phenomena which — all facts as they are — on no 
other ground are explicable or even believable. It 
is only by the admission of the real union of Divin- 
ity with the human soul of Jesus Christ that a 
solution can be found of historical and psychologi- 
cal difficulties, which are otherwise as insurmount- 
able as they are undeniable. The idea of incarna- 
tion in all its meaning is, indeed, incomprehensible ; 
but we can very distinctly comprehend, that it must 
" See Note A, at the end of the chapter. 



190 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

he true nevertheless^ because, otberwise, facts of 
wMcli we have tlie fullest evidence are absolutely 
unbelievable. The incarnation is a profound mys- 
tery ; but intelligence and candor will allow that 
this is the very region where mystery was even to 
be looked for. We are compelled to believe that 
this mystery is a truth ; because, if not, the mar- 
• velous phenomena of the life of Jesus, which vfe 
can not deny, are not only a mystery, and one even 
more inscrutable and insupportable, but a direct 
contradiction. 

Our argument is to receive important confirma- 
tion from another region of the life of Jesus. But, 
even here, that life has supplied presumptive evi- 
dence amounting to the strongest proof, of a doc- 
trine which, awfully deformed and corrupted in- 
deed, has yet somehow found its way into most of 
the philosophies and religions of the world — the 
doctrine of Incarnation, God in man. " They shall 
call his name Emanuel, which, being interpreted, is 

God with usJ'' 

NOTE A. 

. This is tlie only other position which merits consideration for 
a moment. The idea tliat Jesus was more than man, yet not 
God in man, that he pre-existed as an angel, or as the first of 
creatures, we believe, has now passed away from all sober 
minds. It is so purely fictitious, and so obviously encounters all 
the difiieulties, without having the peculiar grounds, or any of 
the compensating advantages of the higher hypothesis, that we 
question if even a solitary supporter of it could be found in the 
present day. Few or none who are convinced that Jesus was 
not, and could not possibly be merely man, will hesitate to adopt 
the conclusion, that he must have been God in man. 



BOOK THIRD. 

THE SPIRITUAL INDIVIDUALITY 0¥ CHRIST. 



IN SIX PARTS. 



Part I. His Oneness with God. 

11. The Forms of His Consciousness. 

Ill, The Totahtv of His Manifestations before the 'Woild, 

lY. The Motive of His Life. 

T. His Faith in Truth, God, and the Redemption of Mac 

VL The Argument from His Character to His Divinity. 



The peculiar conditions of the earthly life of 
Jesus have now been examined. The time and 
place of his advent, his parentage, his social position 
and his early death, strike the least reflecting, 
and give extraordinary significance to his sub- 
sequent history. They therefore first received con- 
sideration. 

It seemed proper, then, to look at the more promi- 
nent and public developments of a life which formed 
itself under such peculiar conditions. The position 
to which Christ actually rose, his own idea of that 
position, the commencement of his public course, 
the qualities that marked his public appearances, 
and his teaching itself, contrasted with the specu- 
lations and discoveries of other lands and ages, were 
successively reviewed. 

We presume now to venture still nearer to this 
mysterious personality. Advanciag beyond his out- 
ward circumstances and his public life, we meditate 
a close inspection of his inner spiritual being, the 
sphere of his conscience and his soul. We seek to 
penetrate that holy place where, exposed to the eye 
of the Omniscient, lie all the hidden principles of 



194 THE CHRIST OF HISTOEY. 

the outward life. "We seek to look within the vail, 
into the innermost chamber of that spiritual temple 
which the heart of Jesus inclosed, and with anxious 
impartiality and with devout fear, we approach the 
secrets of this untrodden region. 

The proper spiritual individuality of Jesus Christ 
was evinced in his oneness with God, in the forms 
of his consciousness, in his manifestation before the 
world as a whole^ in the motive of his life, and in 
his calm assurance of Triumph. 



PART I. 

HIS ONENESS WITH GOD. 

Communion between created and uncreated Mind. — Human side 
of the Doctrine. — Effort to conceive Grod. — Faitli in His Near- 
ness to us. — In His Love. — Sense of Dependence. — Veneration. 
— Trust— God listening and responding to the Soul. — To Christ, 
God the greatest Reality. — Christ alone with God.—Original, 
habitual Union. — Walked with God. 

Communion between tlie uncreated and tlie cre- 
ated mind is a contested subject in the theological 
schools. "We mingle not in the conflict, but venture 
to express the profound conviction thafc, if Grod be 
the Father of minds, then the idea is ^-ery rational 
and very refreshing that he should mercifully re- 
gard his intelligent offspring, and be re-ady to con- 
verse with them ; and, on the other hand, that they 
should seek to communicate with him. But it is a 
hard effort for the created mind even to conceive 
of God, much more to commune with him. A per- 
fectly just conception of God is impossible. The 
Infinite can never be contained within the finite. 
The utmost possible to us is to strive to approach, 
for we can never even approach, however distantly, 



196 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

toward the idea of an infinite nature, infinite excel- 
lence, infinite duration ; the idea of the uncreated, 
all-creating Mind, the eternal dwelling and source 
of life, truth, love, and power. And even this striv- 
ing after a distant approach to the conception of God 
is more than we can long endure. We are over- 
whelmed by our own poor thoughts, and can only 
bow down in helpless wonder, before Him who is 
past finding out. " It is high as heaven, what canst 
thou do ? It is deeper than Hades, what canst thou 
know? The measure thereof is longer than the 
earth, and broader than the sea." 

To stretch toward the Infinite is the first effort ; 
the second is to connect the Infinite with our per- 
sonal sphere, our movements, interests, and des- 
tinies. Nothing is more certain than that God is 
as cognizant of every human soul as if it alone ex- 
isted in immensity. The changes in our outward 
condition, and all the passing shades of emotion and 
of volition within, must be instantly perceived by 
him. His awful presence is unutterably near to us, 
the open Infinite Eye gazes upon us every moment. 
When this faith is once reached, life becomes in- 
vested with wondrous sanctity ; but it is not enough. 
Does the Great Being who is so mysteriously near, 
also love the creatures he hath made ? Perhaps the 
open Infinite Eye is cold as it is luminous, and 
in conducting the vast interests of the universe, God 
is indifferent to what is passing in individual minds, 



EFFORT TO CONCEIVE GOD. 197 

and heeds not whether they suffer or rejoice, or how 
they appeal to his throne. The conviction is indis- 
pensable, that the nature of God, in its relation to 
our minds, is essenii^Bj parental How this con- 
viction is legitimately reached, on what basis it 
must rest in order to be permanent and safe, can 
not be shown in this place, but it must be reached. 
It must be believed that God is profoundly inter- 
ested in the human soul ; that the eternal Father 
stands in the tenderest relation to that soul, and that 
Divine sympathy and Divine love are not less but 
more real, than human sympathy and human 
love. 

The mind of man in deep earnest stretching up 
toward the infinite God, believing in his mysterious 
nearness and in his love, presumes to utter itself 
before him. At sach a moment, its first feeling is 
that of absolute dependence. It is in the very con- 
dition to trace back existence, preservation, and all 
good for the present or for the eternal life to the un- 
created Source. Along with this sense of depend- 
ence, there is deep veneration, not simply love, but 
such love as finds its proper object only in God — 
love mingled with awe, love taking its very highest 
form, the form of reverence. There is superadded 
simple trust, trust in parental love commanding in- 
finite resources, the confiding look and confiding 
heart of a child. The mind of man gazing up to 
the Infinite Nature with mingled dependence, rev 



198 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

erence, and trust, opens and utters itself to Omnis- 
cience. 

This is the human side of communion, but there 
is here, as yet, no interchange. There is outgoing 
from below, but no response from above. On earth 
the communion of one human mind with another 
is profoimdly mysterious, and it is far more rare 
than we imagine. Intercourse by looks, words, and 
acts, is universal ; but real mental fellowship, com- 
munion of intellect with intellect, conscience with 
conscience, - heart with heart ; communion of soul 
with soul is excessively rare. It is always and 
necessarily imperfect. The real and great differ- 
ences between one soul and another, and the con- 
sequent proportional defect of sympathy between 
them, mental and moral incompetence and poverty 
on the one side or the other, or both in different 
respects, constitutional or acquired reserve, shame, 
pride, and fear, necessarily prevent the entireness 
and the freedom of communion. But such as it is, 
it is real, and there are palpable expressions and 
tokens of it, and a palpable medium through which 
it is conducted. There is no palpable medium of 
intercourse between the human soul and God, and 
on the side of Grod there are no palpable expres- 
sions and tokens of its reality. The region belongs 
to pure faith ; we only helieve that God is responding 
to us ; that is literally all. But this faith is rational, 
and it is purifying and exalting. If one human 



FAITH IN LOVE. 199 

soul welcomes and answers the utterances of an- 
other, it is morally certain that the Eternal Father 
will meet the advances of his own child. Grod must 
perceive every movement of the soul toward him- 
self, and can we doubt, that he will greet the rising 
aspiration in his pity and love ? The belief is in 
harmony with the highest reason, that the Uncre- 
ated responds to the created mind, pours illumina- 
tion, breathes down peace, and sheds forth living 
and healing influences. Divine fellowship is the 
selectest and most solemn of all mysteries. It is a 
blessed moment in the earthly history of a soul, 
when it seeks an audience of God, and believes that 
God is mercifully listening and responding to it. 
This is heaven on earth, an earnest of the highest 
dignities and the noblest joys of the life to come. 
Communion with God is the most exalted spiritual 
privilege, and the habit of communion is the proof 
of the most matured spiritual excellence. 

Jesus Christ possessed this privilege in a higher 
degree than it was ever possessed by man, and he 
exhibited this excellence in a maturity which was 
never beheld on earth before or since. On reading 
his life, the impression is irresistible that his soul 
was full of God. The selection of a few great oc- 
casions could not convey to us an adequate con- 
ception of the constancy and closeness of his union 
with the Invisible Father. His labors were inces- 
sant ; he was in the midst of the ignorant, who 



200 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

needed to be instructed, the suffering, who needed 
to be relieved, and the mourners, who needed to be 
comforted. The demands made on his sympathy, 
his wisdom, and his power, were perpetual, and he 
delighted to meet them all. It was not often that 
he could rob his public work of the hours which 
might have contributed to his solitary personal joy, 
but he was never separated from Grod in thought 
or in heart. The word oftenest on his lips was this, 
''the Father,"— ."the Father "—-"G-od !" Sponta- 
neously, naturally, constantly, the idea rose, be- 
cause it was a fixed reality, the greatest of all real- 
ities in his mind. No being was so present to 
him as Grod ; not merely in the hours of peculiar 
and prolonged communion, but always and every 
where God was every thing to him. Habitually he 
brought the Invisible and Uncreated into the sphere 
of the visible and the created ; in his mind the two 
were one. Even amid multitudes, who had no 
sympathy with the movements of his inner nature, 
he knew how to be alone with God, and could con- 
vert the crowded city into a religious solitude. 

But the deep yearnings of Jesus' soul, the 
Divine force within, often drove him into literal 
solitude, that he might give unrestrained and full 
expression to his spiritual emotions. In every one 
of the eventful crises of his life, he gave affecting 
testimony to the reality of his oneness with G-od. 
*^ He went into a desert place, and there prayed.'' 



CHEIST ALONE WITH GOD. 201 

" He went up into a mountain to pray." "We find 
that lie spent days and nights also, in solitary prayer 
and communion with God. After his baptism, and 
before entering on his public course, he went into 
t'le wilderness and spent weeks alone with God. 
On one occasion^ after a succession of public labors, 
we are told that " rising up a gi:"eat while before 
day, he departed into a solitary place, and there 
prayed." When the people sought to take him by 
force, in order to crown him, he withdrew to pray. 
On the night of his betrayal, thinking more of the 
sorrows of his disciples than of his own, "he lifted 
ap his eyes to heaven and prayed" for them. In 
the garden of Gethsemane, overwhelmed with 
agony, he prayed, saying, " Father, if it be possi- 
ble, let this cup pass from me." His agony deepen- 
ing, " he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was 
as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
ground." ^ But that oneness with God, of whose 
depth many such testimonies were given, was nol 
occasional, but habitual. It was not cherished 
from a sense of duty, but it governed him irresisti- 
bly as an original law of his being. The sponta- 
neous tendencies of his nature, and not the mere 
conviction of duty, or the force of outward circum- 
stances, drew Jesus to God. 

Christ's attendance in the temple or the syna- 

1 See Matt. xiv. 23, and xxvi. 36 ; Mark. i. 36, and vi. 46 ; 
Luke, V 16, and vi. 12, and ix. 28 ; John, xvii. 1. 
9* 



202 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

gogue, liis sacrifices and offerings, and his regard 
to places, rites, and days— tilings whicli in that 
age were thouglit to enter into the very essence of 
rehgion — are little noticed in the Gospels. But in 
the habits of his mind, in his words, and in his 
uniform example, he revealed that which alone 
gave worth to outward services and sanctity to the 
synagogue and the temple. He revealed the soul 
and God, and the reality of intercourse between 
them. Standing erect in his heavenward tenden- 
cies and in his purity, he laid open the spiritual 
world, its occupations, its eternity, its glory — like 
a majestic column, round whose base thereJies an 
atmosphere of pollution and darkness, but on whose 
summit there streams perpetual sunshine. Jesus 
walked on the earth, but his soul was in the skies 
with God, and in the light of that upper sphere he 
ever viewed the world below, and conducted all his 
ministrations among men. 



PART II. 

THE FORMS OF HIS CONSCIOUSNESS. 

Nature of Consciousness. — ^Its Universality. — Value of its Testi- 
mony. — Christ's Consciousness. — Highest Development. — Ex- 
pressed to the last. — ^Interpretation of it. — Proof of the Yalidity 
of His Claims. 

There is an inward sense, tlie counterpart of 
the senses of the body. These reveal the exter- 
nal, this the internal world. The eye and the ear 
assure us respecting the existence of material ob- 
jects ; consciousness assures us respecting the actual 
facts within our minds, our experiences, motives, 
thoughts, and aims at every movement. In this, 
all mental phenomena is realized ; by these all ma- 
terial phenomena are perceived. Consciousness 
belongs to men universally ; it is one of the ac- 
knowledged attributes of the human soul, and not 
the least wonderful. Every human being is dis- 
tinctly conscious of what is passing in his mind at 
any moment, of the evil and the good in him, his 
Insincerity or sincerity. It is one of the mysteries 
which are, nevertheless, undoubted facts of our 



204 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

spiritual constitution. In spite of what may be 
tliouglit by others, whether unfavorable or favora- 
ble ; in spite of what a man himself may assert and 
cause to be believed respecting him ; in spite of 
what he wishes to believe, and even sometimes per- 
suades himself he does believe, deep under all this 
there lies a clear sense of what is really within 
bim at the moment, and to a man himself this tes- 
timony is irresistible. The evidence of conscious- 
ness to the individual mind is to the full as decisive 
as the evidence of the external senses, in their 
peculiar sphere. A thousand arguments and a 
thousand difficulties are of no weight in the face of 
what we see and hear ; and a thousand arguments 
and a thousand difficulties can in no degree disturb 
the clear testimony of the inward sense. There is, 
in fact, nothing which can bear comparison with 
this in directness and in strength. That of which. 
a human soul is distinctly conscious as a present 
fact within it, is of all things most indubitable, be- 
cause, otherwise, its original constitution and the 
Former of that constitution would be impeached. 
If either the outward sense or this inward sense 
could not be trusted in their proper sphere, there 
could be nothing certainly true in the universe ; 
the very foundations of all certitude and of all con- 
fidence would be overturned. The reality of that 
inner fact of which a human soul is perfectly con 



HUMAN IMPEEFECTION. 205 

scions, is identified witli the existence, the veracity, 
the sincerity, and the goodness of God. 

The evidence of consciousness is available only 
in a very limited degree, beyond a man himself. 
Generally the inward testimony is anxiously con- 
cealed from other men ; through mere carelessness 
it may be misunderstood, or it may be designedly 
mutilated and falsified. But if a faithful report of 
it could be obtained — if we were able, by satisfac- 
tory evidence, to ascertain beyond doubt that what 
was said to be a positive consciousness was really 
such, this testimony would be as convincing and as 
valid to others as to the man himself, and we should 
reach a species of proof than which none can be 
higher or stronger. The Gospels profess to report, 
in Christ's own words, the voice of his soul to 
himself; and it is this report which must now be 
impartially examined; Christ's own statements 
respecting what he himself found and felt in his 
nature. 

This Being, then, never uttered a word to man 
or to God which indicated the sense of a single 
defect in his whole life. The Old and New Testa- 
ments record the lives of many godly and honored 
men — ^Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Ezekiel, 
John, Peter, Paul, and others ; but they all confess 
faults and sins, and repent and throw tliemselves 
on the mercy of God. Eeligious biography leaves 
on the mind an impression of the same character, 



206 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

only more deeply marked. Without exception, 
the lives of men who feared and loved God, and 
who in intention and effect were workers for him 
and for their race, exhibit inconsistencies and im- 
perfections. Such men utter humiliating confes- 
sions, and severe self-reproaches ; and we are not 
surprised that they do ; it would create astonish- 
ment if they did not. The range of general biog- 
raphy includes the illustrious men of all nations, 
and of all times — men distinguished for their moral 
qualities, their intellectual powers, their acquire- 
ments in all the various branches of knowledge, 
the positions of influence to which they have risen, 
and the reputation they have won, and which, per- 
haps, has hved through a succession of ages. It 
includes the originators of useful and sagacious 
schemes, the conductors of movements which have 
conferred extensive and lasting benefit on the 
world. It includes all the great benefactors of 
mankind, the instructors, examples, and guides of 
their race. Now we assert, without fear of contra- 
diction, that in each individual, within this almost 
limitless range, there is found much that is wrong 
in the sight of God and men, many a deficiency, 
many a weakness, many a false step, many a posi- 
tive sin. What is equally to our purpose, not 
one of all this vast number ever professes to be 
free from errors and sins, or even seeks to be 
thought so. 



PERFECTION. 207 

But Jesus Ckrist uniformly expressed a distinct 
Bense of faultlessness and perfection. He never 
once reproached himself, or regretted any thing he 
had ever done or said. He never uttered a word, 
to indicate that he had ever taken a wrong step, or 
neglected a single opportunity, or that any thing 
could have been done or said more or better than 
he had done and said. Here is a being who was 
always calmly, perfectly conscious of faultlessness. 
" I do always those things which please the Fa- 
ther."^ "Which of you convicteth me of sin?"' 
*' If I say the truth why do you then not believe ?" ' 
" The prince of this world cometh, and hath noth- 
ing in me."" 

There is a still more mysterious utterance of 
Christ's inward nature. We find him avowing the 
most extraordinary sense, not merely of personal 
perfection, but of official greatness. ''I am not 
alone, for the Father is with me." ^ "I and my 
Father are one."' ''My Father worketh hitherto, 
and I work."^ " He that sent me is with me ; the 
Father hath not left me alone."® "My meat is to 
do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish 
his work." ' We do not profess to exhibit the full 
meaning of these holy texts : but it can not be dis- 
puted that they convey this at least, a conviction 

J John, viii. 29. 2 lb. viii. 46. 3 lb. viii. 46. 

4 lb. xiv. 30. 5 lb. xvl 32. 6 lb. x. 30. 

7 lb. V. n. 8 lb. viii. 29. » lb. iv. 34. 



208 THE CHRIST OP HISTORY. 

on the part of Jesus that lie was at one with the 
Father, in some high and merciful enterprise. To 
his own consciousness it was certain that he was 
obeying not his own will onh^, but the will of the 
Father ; that he was unfolding not his own thoughts 
only, but the thoughts of the Father, and that he 
was carrying on, not a work of his own merely, 
but the work of the Father. And on this inward 
sense of relation to God there was built up a con- 
viction of the strict individuality, the solitary 
grandeur of his mission. "J am the bread of 
life." ' " / am the light of the world." '^ " / am 
the way, the truth, and the life." ^ " / am the good 
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of 
mine ; and my sheep hear my voice, and they fol- 
low me, but a stranger will they not follow."* "/ 
am come that they might have life, and that they 
might have it more abundantly."^ "All things 
are delivered to me of my Father, and no man 
knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom- 
soever the Son shall reveal him."^ ''Your father 
Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and 
was glad." ^ " Many prophets and kings have de- 
sired to see those things which ye see, and have 
not seen them, and to hear those things which ye 
hear, and have not heard them."' " The queen of 

1 John, vi. 35. 2 ib. viii. 12. 3 lb. xiv. 6. 

4 lb. X. 14, 4, 5. 5 lb. X. 10. 6 Matthew, xil 27. 

7 John, viii. 56.' ^ Luke, x. 24. 



gheist's perfection. 209 

the South shall rise up in judgment with the men 
of this generation, and shall condemn them ; for 
she came from the iittermost parts of the earth to 
hear the wisdom • of Solomon, and behold a greater 
ihan Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall 
rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall 
condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of 
Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is here^ ^ 

But more mysterious, more awful still, were the 
words in which Jesus sometimes pronounced him- 
self. On several separate occasions he employed 
in the hearing of men, language which human lips 
could not have uttered without impiety. ''Thy 
sins be forgiven thee." " The Son of Man hath 
power on earth to forgive sins." ""^ " The hour is 
coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the 
Son of God, and they that hear shall live." " 
" When the Son of Man shall" come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit 
on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be 
gathered all nations." ^ The deep sense of his mys- 
terious greatness which these passages indicate, was 
expressed by Jesus from the first, and it was never 
lost or even impaired. At the last, when darkness 
gathered around him, he shrank not from the avowal. 
Immediately before his crucifixion, he said to the 
judge who condemned him, "Thou couldst have 

1 Luke, xi. 31, 32. 2 Matt. ix. 2. 6. 

3 John, V. 25. 4 Matt. xxv. 32. 



210 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

had no power at all against me, except it were given 
tliee from above." ' "To this end was I born, and 
for this canse came I into this world, that I should 
bear witness unto the truth. My kingdom is not 
of this world ; if my kingdom were of this world 
then would my servants fight that I should not be 
delivered unto the Jews, but now is my kingdom 
not from hence." "^ From first to last, in his humil- 
iation and in his sufferings, and at his dying hour, 
just as in the outset of his career and the freshness 
of his public fame, this was the same great and dread 
Being, 

The frequent utterance of a mysterious and dis- 
tinctive consciousness, on the part of Jesus, can not 
be disputed. To say nothing of the inspiration of 
the New Testament ; unless it be utterly fabulous 
and false, if even in the most loose sense it be au- 
thentic, this is certain, that Jesus often expressed 
without reserve a sense of personal faultlessness and 
perfection ; and what is more, a sense of the incom- 
parable dignity and sacredness of his ofQ.cial posi- 
tion. In his own conception, he stood between man 
and God, in a crisis of the world's history which 
had no parallel. He was alone in the ages, bearing 
a burden for which no former age was ripe, and by 
which no subsequent age was to be oppressed. He 
was doing a work in which he could have no part- 
John, xix. 11 2 lb. xviii. 36, S*? See Channing's Sermon, p. 428 



THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED. 211 

ner ; lie was alone in responsibility, in power, and 
in rank ! 

Such, supposing the Christian record to be of the 
smallest historical value, is the indubitable fact. 
Can it be accounted for — can any important con- 
clusions be founded upon it — what does it really 
involve ? 

1. Perhaps some of Christ's injudicious and over- 
zealous followers suggested to his mind the preten- 
sions which he avowed. This is not conceivable : 
for the consciousness which he expressed compre- 
hended far more than any of them believed, or even 
understood at the time, much as they honored and 
loved him. 

2. Perhaps the language of Christ originated in 
mere vanity and conceit. It must have been con- 
summate, unparalleled vanity, if it was vanity at 
all ; but this is plainly incompatible with the sobri- 
ety and solidity of his deportment. Besides, the 
idea expressed was too lofty to have had such a 
despicable origin; it was too spiritual, and too 
closely connected with God, with religion, with the 
unseen world ; unless, indeed, he had been utterly 
reckless and profane. 

3. Perhaps it originated in a deep-laid scheme of 
ambition. The prompt answer to this suggestion 
is that such was not Christ's character at all. He 
was no crafty and designing hierophant or dema- 
gogue. His own decla"*'ation was simply true, and 



212 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

was verified by his entire course, "Mj meat is to do 
tlie will of liim that sent me, and to finish his work." 
Interested motives, in any form, never once indica- 
ted their presence in him by a single token during 
his whole li .e. 

4. Perhaps it originated in enthusiasm/ But 
only an enthusiasm amounting to raving insanity 
could have uttered itself, in such language as his. 
If its origin was enthusiasm at all, it must have 
been the very insanity of enthusiasm, and his grave 
and meek life decisively forbids this supposition. 
There was nothing, either in his sayings or his 
doings incoherent, contradictory, wild. Both man- 
ifested entire self-possession and the calmest wis- 
dom. 

5. Perhaps it originated in mere mistake. "With 
all his excellence, intellectual and moral, was not 
Jesus Christ nevertheless singularly mistaken on 
one point ? Perhaps he fancied himself greater and 
better than he really was. Without the slightest 
intention to deceive, with entire sincerity and hon- 
esty, he uttered what he thought was the voice of his 
consciousness ; but it v/as a mere fancy, a serious, 
but not altogether unlikely, mistake. It occurs to 
us to ask in this connection, was Jesus Christ also 
mistaken, when he uttered in the ears of men truths, 
which the wisest and best souls ever sent into this 
world before had never imagined ? Was he also 

> Channing, p. 427. 



PROOF OF HIS CLAIMS. 213 

mistaken, wlien he bestowed on mankind a body of 
living, spiritual trutb, which all the systems taken 
together, before known, do • not approach, and to 
which nothing worthy to be named has since been 
added ? In such a matter as this, was he mistaken, 
who had revealed the deepest secrets of the nature 
of God, or the human soul, and of the future state ? 
Was he unable to report faithfully a thing so near 
at hand as the voice of his own consciousness, and 
in the stead of that voice, did he publish a ground- 
less conceit to the world ? These things do not 
comport ; it is impossible that they should be both 
true of the same individaal. The ground neither 
of injudicious foreign influence, nor of vanity, nor 
of deep-laid ambition, nor of enthusiasm, nor of 
honest mistake, can be taken in this case. The 
wickedness or weakness, or both, which these 
grounds would involve are utterly irreconcilable 
with the acknowledged character of Jesus; and 
none of the principles which are found to account 
for similar phenomena in the case of other historical 
personages, nor all of these principles together, are 
adequate or applicable in his case. But whether 
unexplained or explained, the fact remains, that he 
repeatedly expressed a sense of personal perfection 
and of extraordinary relation to God. He found 
and felt this as a fact of his inward nature ; he ut- 
tered it as a distinct consciousness. A conviction 
is founded on evidence, and is reached by a process 



214 THE CHKIST OF HISTOEY. 

of reasoning. The foundation may be nnsoiind, the 
reasoning may be false, and the conviction may be 
an error ; but a consciousness is an immediate and 
independent act, like seeing by the eye, or hearing 
by the ear. It is its own evidence, and none can 
be more satisfying, more sure. By the very consti- 
tution of the soul, this is the highest proof possible 
of the reality of that which it presents. 

We can come only to one conclusion, that the 
words of Jesus were a faithful and genuine expres- 
sion of his consciousness — a consciousness which 
creates an impassable distinction between him and 
all men. In that true voice of his soul, there is the 
strongest evidence of indubitable reality. He spoke 
what he felt, and he felt what he truly was. His 
nature was conscious of the profound mystery 
which belonged to it, and he simply uttered this 
consciousness, and no apparent inconsistency be- 
tween what he claimed and what he seemed to be, 
troubled him for a moment. 

A young man who had not long left the carpen- 
ter's shop, who at the moment he spoke was in a 
condition of poverty, and was associated only with 
those who were obscure and poor like himself, 
calmly declared his senye of perfect faultlessness 
and of extraordinary relation to God. Is it possi- 
ble, that any candid mind can reflect on the plain 
facts of this history, and on the principles which 



PROOF OF HIS CLAIMS. 215 

lie beneath them, on the seeming of this marvelous 
life, and on the reality which the seeming does but 
vail — aj,^ often unvail — and not be filled involun- 
tarily with wonder and with awe ? 



PAET III. 

THE TOTALITY OF HIS MANIFESTATION BEFORE 
THE WOELD. 

True Man. — Peculiar Susceptibility. — Sufferings and Provocationsk 
— Unconquerable Patience. — Absolute spiritual Perfection. — 
Simplicity and Freshness. — Uniform Perfection. — Jesus a Mani- 
festation, not an Effort. — A pure Original, and not an Imita- 
tion. — Alone in History. 

Christ's original and constant oneness with God 
prepares us to expect in him, an extraordinary eleva- 
tion and purity of character. His mysterious con- 
sciousness, also, is the proof of moral greatness 
which never belonged to man. But in addition to 
these, there is a proof of his spiritual individuality, 
which comes home more directly to the consciences 
and hearts of men, and is fitted to move them more 
powerfully. It is found in his life, aF a ivhole, in 
the entii^e unfolding of his character before the world 
from first to last. 

His identification with universal humanity can 
not fail to be recognized at once. He belonged to 
no privileged class, and as an inhabitant of the 
world, he enjoyed no protection or advantage of 
any kind which was not common to all other hu- 



TRUE MAN. 217 

man beings. Real moral excellence and lioly force 
of character are admirable, whatever may have 
been the history of their production ;~ but they are 
certainly less impressive when peculiar advantages 
have been enjoyed for their cultivation, and when 
peculiar measures have been adopted for their acqui- 
sition. If a man withdraw himself from the duties, 
trials, and snares of the world, retire to solitude, and 
devote his life to the pursuit of virtue, it is felt, 
however elevated his character may become, that 
the methods to which he has resorted are impossi- 
ble to men in general, and indeed are at variance 
with the constitution of things which God has or- 
dained. Even the example of an individual in the 
higher walks of society, or belonging to some 
privileged order, or in any other way placed in cir- 
cumstances more than usually favorable to " '^ til 
and spiritual development, protected against hin- 
derances and evils which beset other men, and 
possessed of encouragements and helps which they 
can not reach, can never act effectively and perma- 
nently on the world. 

But Jesus Christ was man in the wide sense of 
that term, and was placed altogether in the ordi- 
nary circumstances which attend the lot of human- 
ity on earth. He belonged to the masses and was 
brought up with them, unprivileged and undistin- 
guished. His associations, all his outward relation- 
ships, his speech and his dress, were of the same 
10 



218 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY, 

kind with theirs ; so that there was every natural 
ground ol sympathy between them and him. We 
read of his weariness, hunger, and thirst — of his 
tears and his groanS' — of his friendship with his dis- 
ciples, and with John in particular — with Lazarus, 
Martha, and Mary ; we read of him weeping at the 
grave of his friend ; we read of his love to little 
children, taking them in his arms and blessing 
them. Whatever else he was, he was man, a true 
man, and his wtis a true and warm human heart. 
No reader of his life can doubt that he was 
a sharer to the full in the common circumstances, 
occupations, susceptibilities, trials, and wants of 
universal humanity. 

Thus conditioned, Jesus had to encounter a diffi- 
culty of overwhelming force, altogether peculiar to 
himself and arising out of the constitution of his 
soul. In his own idea, whether true or false it 
matters not, he was born to a Godlike work. A 
mysterious purpose lay in his mind ; it was to re- 
deem and reclaim a world, to recover man to God 
and to immortal perfection. This was the passion 
of his heart, and the very nature of this passion, 
this purpose would necessarily render him more 
keenly susceptible and more dependent on gratefal 
appreciation. But he was unappreciated and un- 
supported. Even his disciples, instead of fortify- 
ing him by their enlightened sympathy, vexed him 
with their low and earthly thoughts, and without 



SUFFEBTNGS AND PROVOCATIONS. 219 

intending oi even knowing it, they often obstrncted 
instead of helping him. This was not all. He en- 
countered designed resistance and unrelenting and 
cruel persecution. He never injured a single being, 
in his heart lay only intense love, but it was basely 
requited. His actions were decried, his motives 
suspected, his character maligned, his spirit, too 
unselfish and pure for that age, misconstrued and 
misunderstood. Because he was holy and denounced 
all evil, the workers of evil conspired against him, 
and moved an entire people in their wickedness and 
blindness to put him to death. The forms of justice 
were violated, the name of religion was prostituted, 
and he was surrendered to the unrestrained revenge 
and power of his enemies. But even then, he was 
absolutely unmoved in the deep love of his heart, 
and in all his gracious thoughts of man and for 
man's salvation. Never, amid cruel provocation 
and persecution, was his soul excited to anger. 
Once in the narrative of his life, the w^ord anger is 
connected with his name — " he looked round upon 
them with anger ^ being grieved for the hardness of 
their hearts." But the passage itself sufficiently 
proves that it is not anger which is meant, but 
strong emotion, indignation perhaps, or amaze- 
ment ; for the same persons could not possibly be 
the objects of grief and of human anger at the same 
time. No ; of one being in human form, but of 
one only, it can be said that he never spoke an an- 



220 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

gry or unkind word, and never indulged for a 
moment an angry or unkind feeling. Ingratitude, 
injustice, hatred, pierced his soul; but his forgiv- 
ingness, patience, meekness, and measureless love, 
were never disturbed. He bore in silence '* the con- 
tradiction of sinners against himself;" " he was obe- 
dient unto death, even the death of the cross;" 
" when he was reviled he reviled not again, when 
he suffered he threatened not, but committed him- 
self to Him who judgeth righteously." '' Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do," 
was the prayer with which he died, and it breathes 
the spirit which pervaded his whole life.^ 

Was ever man like this ? Was such a manifest- 
ation of a human soul ever even imagined ? Cer- 
tainly never, except in this instance, was such a 
manifestation described. 

Greatness, in the sense which, most commends it- 
self to many minds, can not be claimed for Jesus. 
His name is not associated with the philosophy, the 
literature, or the science of the world. He . occu- 
pied a position far above them. The good sense 
and the good taste of candid men will pronounce 

1 The Rev. T. H. Home, in his " Introduction to the Study 
of the Scriptures," vol. i. p. 422, puts into English a magnifi- 
cent eulogy of the character of Jesus, by J. J. Roussean. The 
piece, in itself, is surpassingly beautiful and eloquent, but con- 
sidering who its author was, it is beyond measurt; astonishing. 
The original passage will be found in the "Emile, ou de 1 'Edu- 
cation," liv. 4. (Euvres, torn. ii. p. 91, 92. — Frankfort, 1*762. 



UNIFORM PERFECTION. 221 

unhesitatingly, that formal connection with any or 
all of them would have degraded, and not exalted 
him. It is not that they are not unspeakably impor- 
tant to the world, and it is not that he, or the relig- 
ion which he founded, in its principles or its spirit, 
was hostile to them. But he was personally apart 
from them, and his greatness belonged to quite an- 
other sphere — one infinitely higher. We have 
shown that transcendent opulence, and power, and 
grandeur of soul were his ; we have shown that he 
dealt as a master with things which the greatest of 
men thought it their highest of&ce, even distantly, 
to approach. Unknown to philosophy, literature, 
and science, in him shone a light which they never 
kindled, and in him were the universal principles 
of all beauty and all truth. 

The difficulty which we chiefly feel in dealing 
with the character of Christ, as it unfolded itself 
before men, arises from its absolute perfection. On 
this very account, it is the less fitted to arrest ob 
servation. A single excellence unusually devel- 
oped, though in the neighborhood of great faults, 
is instantly and universally attractive. Perfect 
symmetry, on the other hand, does not startle, and 
is hidden from common and casual observers. But 
it is this which belongs emphatically to the Christ 
of the Gospels ; and we distiDguish in him at each 
moment that precise manifestation, which is most 
natural and most right. It is wonderful, that th* 



222 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

unpretending and brief annals of his life, by four 

different hands, have not failed in this respect, have 
not failed in any part of the delineation, or in a sin- 
gle tonch or tint : the more wonderful it iS; since 
the character was utterly unlike what the writers 
could have imagined, by the aid either of experi- 
ence or of history. 

In human beings, there never is an approach to 
sustained, proportioned, and universal goodness. 
The manifestation in one direction is so high as to 
be unnatural, while in another direction, it falls 
perhaps below the standard of our conceptions. 
This wondrous Person always is, and acts up to the 
idea of perfect humanity — never unnaturally eleva- 
ted so as to be out of fellowship with men, and 
never below the highest human excellence, conceiv- 
able in the particular circumstances at the time. If 
men possess a virtue in an unusual degree, the prob- 
ability is, that they will be found to exhibit a de- 
fect or fault in the opposite direction. The virtue 
itself shall pass into a fault, and shall occasion the 
injury or the neglect of other qualities equally es- 
sential. A man is remarkable for sagacity and 
decision, but he shall be coldly unsusceptible ; or 
he is tender and ardent, but he shall be wanting in 
resolution and in judgment. He is remarkable for 
dignity of deportment, but he shall be reserved 
and proud ; or he is communicative and accessible, 
but he shall be wanting in becoming self respect 



UNIFOKM PERFECTION. 223 

The higli development of the intellect is rarely 
combined witli the due cultivation of the affections, 
and the cultivation of the affections is rarely com- 
bined with full development and force of intellect. 
Jesus Christ possessed the tenderest heart, over- 
flowing with generous and warm feelings, but, at 
the same time, his wisdom was profound, and his 
decision of character was invincible. He was ac- 
cessible to all without exception, and no circle of 
exclusiveness was at anv time drawn around him 
in order to guard his presence ; but he was always 
self-possessed, and self-sustained, and his dignity 
was commanding. Intellectually and morally, so- 
cially and personally, in relation to his kindred or 
his disciples, to the followers or the enemies of his 
ministry, he always rises up to the highest idea 
that can be formed of perfect man. And then, 
there is thrown over all his intercourse with men, 
the charm of freshness and genuine simplicity. 
Nothing is artificial, nothing assumed, nothing 
forced ; but we behold the natural, honest, free de- 
velopment of a true soul. He is never trying to 
impress, never laboring to sustain a character. He 
is not aiming to seem, but he seems what he really 
is — no more, no less, no other. E"or does this 
Being come before us only on a few special occasions, 
carefully selected, in order to exhibit conspicuously 
the best aspects of his character. We behold him 
in every conceivable variety of positions, mingling 



224 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

witH all sorts of persons, and with all kinds of 
events ; we follow the steps of his public life, and 
we watch his most unsuspecting and retired mo- 
ments ; we see him in the midst of thousands, or 
with his disciples, or with a single individual ; we 
see him in the capital of his country, or in one of 
its remote villages, in the temple and the synagogue, 
or in the desert, or in the streets ; we see him with 
the rich and with the poor, the prosperous and the 
afflicted, the good and the bad, with his private 
friends and with his enemies and murderers ; and 
we behold him at last in circumstances the most 
overwhelming which it is possible to conceive, de- 
serted, betrayed, falsely accused, unrighteously 
condemned, nailed to a cross ! But wherever he is, 
and however placed, in the ordinary circumstances 
of his daily life, or at the last supper, or in Geth- 
semane, or in the judgment hall, or on Calvary, he 
is the same meek, pure, wise, god-like Being. 

It must be most distinctly noted, that the char- 
acter of Jesus was a manifestation not an effort. 
Men rise to spiritual excellence ; but it is from the 
imperfections and errors of first efforts, it is after 
repeated failures, and as the result of a long and 
hard struggle with evil ; and whatever triumph be 
achieved, the struggle, not unattended with frequent 
defeat, is prolonged to the last. This is the unqual- 
ified testimony of individual experience and of 
imiversal observation. But, in the case of Jesuit 



MANIFESTATIOISr, NOT AN EFFORT. 226 

Christ, tliere were no indications of struggle or 
even of effort, and not a single failure or defeat. 
His soul was deeply moved bj the darkness and 
the evil around him ; but he was personally un- 
tainted with either. We behold the gradual unfold- 
ing of an inward power, which did not need to con- 
tend, but meekly and at once put aside whatever 
resistance was offered to it. By the words and the 
acts of his life, Jesus rebuked all that was ungodly, 
impure, and false among men; but invariably it 
was as one who himself was innocent of sin, and 
who was sent to renovate and bless the world. 
His life was a triumph from the first — the manifes- 
tation of a soul that stood invincible in its native 
spiritual force. 

The character of Jesus, besides, was a pure orig- 
inal, not an imitation. The model existed not, and 
had never existed, from which it could have been 
copied. There is no record, in the writings of all 
nations and of all times, of a life for which absolute 
perfection is claimed from its beginning to its close. 
But the character of Christ drawn in the Gospels, 
though undesignedly on the part of the writers, is 
human perfection, in which we can discover no de- 
fect, and which we can imagine nothing beyond. 
Nor is it the concentration in a single life of attri- 
butes which, though they never all existed in 
combination before, had all existed separately, in 
different proportions, in other lives and other times 
10* 



226 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

There are single elements of character and combi- 
nations of elements here, which are perfectly new • 
appreciated and admired, having been once disclos 
ed, but no trace of which had before appeared. 
The entire personality, as it rose up before the 
world, was a fresh living original — a stream from its 
native fountain, not the accumulation of many trib- 
utary waters. 

The suspicion is very groundless that that mani- 
festation which is delineated with great artlessness 
in the Gospels, was not real, but ideal — a creation 
of the writers' own minds, not a simple account of 
what they had actually witnessed. We need onlj 
refer to the intellectual and moral condition of 
Judea, with its known principles, habits, and tastes 
to the position and character of the evangelists, and 
then to the representation itself which they have 
executed, in order to show convincingly that such 
a suspicion is the most groundless which can be 
imagined. That country and these men could never 
have conceived or described such ideal spiritual ex- 
cellence, as that which they have attached as a 
reality to the person of Jesus ; least of all was it 
possible, that this idea could have been connected 
with the name and the of&ce of the promised 
Messiah. This was not their idea at all, especially 
in this connection. In several most important 
respects, it was exactly the opposite of their idea : 
and by no possibility could it have originated merely 



OHIGINAL AND REAL. 227 

in their minds. Sucli a character as that of Jesus, 



they were not the persons to have ever imagined , 
and that it has "been delineated bj them, is the un- 
assailable proof that it was actually seen. ^ ' 

Never passed before the imagination of man, and 
never but once alighted on this earth so heavenly 
a vision. Once, in all human history, we meet a 
being who never did an injury, and never resented 
one done to him, never uttered an untruth, never 
practiced a deception, and never lost an opportun- 
ity of doing good, generous in the midst of the 
selfish, upright in the midst of the dishonest, pure 
in the midst of the sensual, and wise far above the 
wisest of earth's sages and prophets, loving and 
gentle, yet immovably resolute, and whose illimit- 
able meekness and patience never once forsook 
him in a vexatious, ungrateful, and cruel world. 

If the New Testament had contained only the 
character of Jesus, as it unfolded itself in his inter- 
course with men, it had deserved a place above all 
human productions, it had been a mine of spiritual 
wealth, and a fountain of holy influence unknown 
to every other region, and to all the ages of time. 



PART lY. 

THE MOTIVE OF HIS LIFE. 



Absence of Selfishness. — Presence of pure and lofty Motives.—" 
His active Goodness. — ^Views of the Soul. — Love of Man aa 
Man. — Gave his Life a Sacrifice. 



The recorded life of Christ proves that lie neither 
sought to gain, nor, in point of fact did gain, power, 
wealth, or fame^ for himself, or for any connected 
with him. He had frequent and fair opportunities 
of gratifying ambition, had his nature been tainted 
with, that passion. Occasions were even thrust 
upon him, and the amplest means were ever ready 
to his hand. The Jews expected in their Messiah 
a king, and were burning with impatience for his 
advent. Jesus needed only to have announced 
himself, and the country would have hailed him 
with enthusiasm, and would have enthroned and 
crowned him, As a matter of fact, such wa?. the 
state of the public mind, that on more than om'j oc- 
casion, the people were about to take him by f/rce 
to make him a king, but he quietly withdrew till 



THE MOTIVE OF HIS LIFE. 229 

the excitement had passed away. Throughout his 
public Hfe, tnough announcing the subhmest truths, 
and performing the noblest works, he never stepped, 
or sought to step, out of the humble sphere in which 
he had been brought up. It has been shown that 
he was at first, and he continued to the last, a poor 
man. He does not seem to have ever possessed for 
himself to the value of the smallest coin, and, when 
he died, he had no means of providing for his 
mother, and could only commend her to the care 
of one of his disciples. 

The entire absence of selfishness, in any form, 
from the character of Christ, can not be questioned, 
and not less undoubted was the active presence of 
pure and lofty motives. His life was not only 
negatively good, it was filled up with positive and 
matchless excellence, and was spent directly and 
wholly in blessing the world. A large portion of 
it was occupied with teaching, and both in its de- 
sign and its native tendency, Christ's teaching was 
only restorative and healing, and itself at once re- 
veals the motive in which it originated — love of 
man, profound,*unselfish love. This reigning spirit 
was yet more apparent, though not more really 
present, in another region of Christ's life. He 
lived^ not merely to announce spiritual truth, but 
to relieve and remove physical suffering. The su- 
pernatural character of this portion of his work 
among men, we do not urge ; but apart from this, 



230 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

it is qnite certain that mucli of his life was occupied 
in healing the sick, and comforting the sorrowing 
and the poor. The substance of the record on this 
head, is condensed in a few beautiful sentences by 
Matthew, 4th chapter, 23d and 24th verses. "And 
Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their syn- 
agogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, 
and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner 
of disease among the people. And h is fame went 
throughout all Syria : and they brought unto him 
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases 
and torments, and those that were possessed with 
devilS; and those which were lunatic, and those 
that had palsy, and he healed them." Make what 
deductions we will, it is perfectly certain, if any 
thing of history remain in the Gospels, that multi- 
tudes in that age experienced the effect of Christ's 
merciful interposition. " He went about doing 
good." He wiped away many a tear; he made 
many human hearts glad ; and many others con- 
nected with them felt the benignant and genial 
influence of his earthly ministry. He relieved and 
removed a great amount of physical suffering ; he 
created and planted in the world a great amount of 
physical happiness. He devoted himself to the 
work of blessing man ; and in both regions of his 
life, in his acts and in his words, in the healing 
spiritual truths which he imparted, and in the un- 
numbered material kindnesses which he bestowed, 



LOYE OF MAN AS MAN. 231 

we discover one reigning motive — love of man, 
deep, enduring, redeeming love. 

We are entitled to assert that compassion for 
humanity held the place of a master -force in the 
soul of Jesus Christ. The man is worse than blind 
who does not perceive the charm of a subduing 
tenderness streaming fresh from his heart, and shed 
over his whole public life. It is related that, once 
as he looked upon the multitudes that had assem- 
bled to listen to his teaching, " he had compassion 
on them, because they were as sheep that had no 
shepherd." ^ We hold that this short sentence de- 
scends to the deepest depth of his being, and lays 
open the chief spring of all his movements, he had 
compassion on the multitudes. Spiritual truth was 
precious to him ; he felt also the burden of a great 
mission, and he was tenderly alive to all the rights 
and claims of God. But he pitied and loved the 
multitude ; their spiritual condition, their destinies, 
their necessities, and their sorrows oppressed his 
heart. In addition to all the force of fidelity to 
Grod, to himself, and to truth of which he was con- 
scious, there were impulses of love and pity that 
gushed up ever warm and fresh in his bosom, and 
imparted a subduing tone to all his ministrations. 
Jesus saw an inexpressible worth in human nature. 
It is fallen and ruined, but it is a precious ruin. 
The wonderful powers yet left to the soul, and tne 

1 Matthew, xv. 32. 



232 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

amazing destiny before it, ineffably bright or unut- 
terably dark, were present to his mind, and were 
tlie source of tiiat yearning affection whicb ruled 
his life. He Joved man as man. The attachment 
of the members of the same family, or the natives 
of the same country, of companions in suffering, 
and of disciples of the same faith, to each other, is 
easily understood. But when the circle is widened, 
the attachment is proportionally impaired, and love 
to man, simply as man, is scarcely intelligible. To 
Christ this was not only an intelligible, but a pro- 
found reality. Keither natural relationship, nor 
condition, nor even character, nor country, nor 
creed, determined the movement of his heart. It 
was man he loved, the nature, the race, for its 
own sake, and because of its solemn relations to 
eternity, and to Grod. Himself man, he felt an 
inexpressible nearness to humanity, nnd his whole 
life, and still more his death, were mi expression 
of his unmeasurable love. The higher purposes of 
the cross are not now before us ; but it must not 
be overlooked that, at last, Jesus could have saved 
his life if he would have sacrificed his mission. But 
that mission was dearer to him than life ; man was 
dearer to liim, man's redemption and restoration to 
Grod were dearer to him than hfe. He could not, 
would not, abandon these ; but his life he could and 
did surrender, a true and holy sacrifice on the 
cross! 



SELF-SACEIFICING LOVE. 283 

A single act of pure generosity fails not to toncli 
the liuman heart ; all men bow dovv^n instinctively 
before it. There are some huQian names which the 
world can never forget, the names of those who, in 
different departments, perhaps for a course of 37ears, 
exhibited v/onderfal devotic/n tothe good of others. 
What then shall be said of Him, whose entire life 
was spent in benefiting, not a single class, but all 
classes of men, and in originating, not one form, 
but endless forms of good, from the lowest up to 
that which relates to the immortal nature and to its 
highest destinies ? Christianity, and Christianity 
alone, is the revelation of a pure and perfect love 
the unvailing of the solitary living model of this 
grace which humanity has furnished. A profound 
secret of God, the unfathomable mercy of his nature 
was to be divulged to the world. It was pronounced 
in words, in words of deep significance ; but it was 
also expressed by a sign ; and there stood before 
men an impersonation of perfect love, a life which 
disclosed and embodied intense, inextinguishablej 
self-sacrificing love, 



PART V. 



TION OF MAN. 

His Foreknowledge of his Death. — Sohtariness — Never himself 
disappointed. — Truth, a Provision for Wants, Cure for Ev-ils of 
World. — Attributes of Grod. — Expressions and Proofs of Christ's 
state of Mind. — Institution of the Supper. — Interpretation of 
Facts. 

It is one of the marvelous facts in Christ's history 
that he distinctly foreboded the calamities which 
were to befall him. Evil did not come upon him 
unawares ; its pressure and its bitterness were ag- 
gravated by anticipation. No explanation is here 
offered of this fact, and nothing will be built upon 
it in the way of argument, but it stands with great 
distinctness in the narrative. " From that time 
forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how 
that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many 
things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, 
and be killed, and be raised again the third day." ^ 
In harmony with this he forewarned his disciples : 

1 Matthew, xvi. 21. 



FOEEKNOWLEDGE OF HIS DEATH. 235 

" Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." ' 
" They shall put yon out of the synagogues ; yea, 
the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will 
think that he doeth God service." ^ In the garden 
of Gethsemane, he said to those who were with him, 
*' Behold, the hour cometh, and the Son of Man is 
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be 
going : behold he is at hand that doth betray me." ^ 
"When Judas with the band of soldiers drew near, 
*' Jesus knowing all things that should come upon 
him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek 
ye ? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus 
saith unto them, I am he." * If Christ was gifted^ 
whether naturally or supernaturally, with any thing 
of the insight into the future which these passages 
suppose, at least no one will doubt that its effect 
must have been to render the burden of calamity 
many times more crushing. But, leaving this de- 
bated ground, we must repeat the fact already re- 
ferred to for a different purpose — that Christ was 
literally alone in his sufferings, unsupported by a 
single human mind. Courage and faith are not 
unusual, when the principles that call them forth 
have been adopted by others, and have received 
this decisive proof of their adaptation and their 
truth. That which is true, indeed, is not more true 
by being understood and admitted, and what a man 

1 Matthew, x. 22. 2 John, xvi. 2- 

3 Matthew, xxvi, 45, 46. * John, xviii. 4, 5. 



236 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY, 

believes is not really more worthy of his belief than 
before, when it is accepted by others as well as 
himself But mind leans on mind, nevertheless, 
and the enlightened convictions of one impart in- 
creased stability and strength to the enlightened 
convictions of another. What we could not effect 
or endure alone, we can effect and endure when 
supported by other kindred souls. Jesus knew no 
such support as this. He was followed indeed by 
multitudes, but it was not because they understood 
and embraced his principles ; and hence when these 
principles were more fully disclosed, " many went 
back and walked no more with him." ' Even his 
own relatives had no intelligent faith in him, and his 
chosen disciples gave to him their affections rather 
than their judgments. They devotedly loved his 
personal character, they believed in his greatness, 
but they did not comprehend it ; the new principles 
struggled in their minds with the old faith, but they 
never succeeded, while he lived, in completely dis- 
placing it* Hence, when he died, the disciples at 
the first spoke as if their hopes were overthrown 
forever. The plain fact is, that Jesus at the last 
disappointed his disciples, disappointed his own re- 
lations, disappointed the masses of the people, dis- 
appointed every one except himself He was never 
disappointed, from the first to the last moment of 
his course. Without a single complete example of 

J John, vi. 66. 



NEVER HIMSELF DISAPPOINTED. 237 

success wliile lie lived, amid constant discourage- 
ment and apparent discomfiture, he calmly believed 
in the omnipotence of spiritual truth and in the di- 
vinity of his own mission. 

Speedy triumph he did not and could not antici- 
pate. With that profound and calm wisdom which 
we have already seen distinguished him, he could 
not fail to know, when he thought of the insidious 
and mysterious working of sin, and its almost in- 
destructible force^ that it must be long before it 
could be forever extirpated. When he saw human 
nature fallen from God, and darkened and diseased, 
he could not fail to know that its restoration, puri- 
fication, education for immortality, and complete 
cure, must be a slow and protracted process. When 
he looked upon the vast empire of evil, the growth 
of thousands of years, its foundations strong and 
deep, and its ramifications innumerable, he coiild 
not fail to know that its entire and final overthrow 
must be the work of ages. Tremendous conflicts 
mud precede such a triumph as he anticipated; 
cen turies of darkness and struggle must intervene. 
But he knew, at the same time, and was calmly as- 
sured of the perfect adaptation of spiritual truth to 
the spiritual condition of the world ; and he saw in 
that truth, if the only, yet the sure provision for 
all the wants of men, if the only, yet the infallible, 
remedy for all the evils that preyed upon them. 

*' The spiritual nature within man, the spiritual 



238 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

world around and over him, tlie Uncreated Father 
of all, pardon of sin, ere long to receive all the elu- 
cidation and all the evidence of the cross, the regen- 
eration of the soul and its reconciliation to Grod." 
■ — These were the living, holj truths which Jesus 
announced ; and in these, in their adaptation, their 
mighty force, and their certain triumph, his confi- 
dence was unmovable. But higher even than this 
he was able to ascend. From spiritual truth he 
rose to its author and fountain, Grod. He believed 
that his mission was of God, the purpose which he 
was unfolding and executing was God's, and the 
infinite resources of God were pledged to its reali- 
zation. He looked to that universal providence 
which includes mind as well as matter, and to all its 
mighty combinations and agencies ; he looked to 
the ever-flowing and inexhaustible fountain of 
spiritual influences, and to him whose knowledge, 
wisdom, and power are illimitable, and his confi- 
dence was untroubled and serene. In his whole 
life, no indication of doubt, even for a moment, 
can be discovered. Not a word of hesitation ever 
escaped his lips. When his last hour was approach- 
ing, his voice to his disciples was the voice of calm 
assurance. " In the world ye shall have tribulation : 
but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world." ^ 
" Ye now have sorrow ; but I will see you again, 
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man 

1 John, xvi. 33. 



HIS CALM ASSUEANCE. 239 

taketli from you." ^ " The world seeth. me no 
more: but je see me ; because I live, ye. shall live 
also. In that day ye shall know that I am in the 
Father, and you iti me, and I in you." ^ "Peace 
I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not 
as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your 
hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."^ 
With respect to the infallible success of his own 
mission, this was his language, " I, if I be lifted up 
from the earth, will draw all men unto me"." * " This 
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
world, for a witness unto all nations."^ At the 
Last Supper, when Judas Iscariot had gone out to 
confer with the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus said, 
" ISTow is the Son of man glorified, and God is 
glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God 
will also glorify him in himself, and will straight- 
way glorify him." ° When he stood before the 
council which condemned him, and when the high 
priest adjured him to tell if he were the Christ, he 
answered, "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man 
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in 
the clouds of heaven." ' At that awful moment his 
faith was unconquered, unconquerable. 

This, then, is the state of the case, as a mere 
matter of history : — A young man destitute of re- 

John, xvi. 22. 2 ib. xiv. 19, 20. 3 lb. xiv. 27. 

lb. xii. 32. 5 Matt. xxiv. 14. « John, xiii. 31, 32 

• Mark, xiv. 62. 



240 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

sources, of patronage, and of influence, commits 
himself to an enterprise wMcli, so long as he lives, 
is nox appreciated or even understood. He is per- 
secuted and scorned, deserted by Ms friends, be- 
trayed by one of his disciples, falsely accused and 
.condemned to a disgraceful and torturing death. 
But, alone, with death before him, and without one 
earthly support, he calmly believes that the enter- 
prise shall triumph, and that he shall reign in the 
minds and hearts of men ! 

Can this have been only human ? "Was there 
ever a manifestation of mere humanity like to this. 
Can any thing short of the union of divinity with 
this humanity account for the acts and states of 
Christ's mind ? 

This is not all; the narrative offers some addi- 
tional facts. At the Last Supper Jesus told his 
disciples, as they sat around him, that the time of 
his death was near at hand. Were his confidence 
and courage shaken by the prospect ? Did no fear 
disturb him — fear of the effect which his . death 
might produce on the opinion of the world ? Did 
no feeling of uneasiness rise within him as if after 
all he might fail ? At all events, was he not anx- 
ious that the ignominious termination of his course 
might be concealed after he was gone ? No, he 
was not ; but, with perfect composure, he made 
provision that not only his death itself, but all its 
agony and its shame should never be forgotten 



INSTITUTION OF THE SUPPER. 24l 

while the world lasted. " He took bread and 
gave it to his disciples, saying, this is my body 
broken for yon ; this do in remembrance of me. 
In like manner he took the cup, saying, this is my 
blood shed for you ; this do in remembrance of 
me."^ 

Was ever serenity like this? Can any thing 
more touching, more sublime than this be conceiv- 
ed ? Was it ever heard of, before or since, that a 
person, in the position of a malefactor, took pains 
to preserve the memory of his disgraceful death ? 
Jesus Christ, about to be crucified as a felon and a 
slave, commanded and provided that the fact should 
be remembered to the end of time — did so in the full 
confidence that he should at last triumph. And 
the fact has been remembered. This is the mystery 
— ^if he be not all that he claimed to be — ^this is 
truly more miraculous than any thing ever so call- 
ed, more inexplicable on all natural principles. 
The fact has been remembered for eighteen hundred 
years ; it is remembered at this day ; and it has 
been and is remembered, not as a form, a time- 
honored custom, but minds have be'en won to Christ 
— ^human hearts have been and are inviolably at- 
tached to him. 

Christ's assurance of triumph is a historical fact; 
his actual triumph for nearly two thousand years 
is no less historically certain: the two combined 

1 Matthew, xxvi ; Mark, xiv ; Luke, xxii 
11 



242 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

lead to one conclusion only. It is this — he was, as 
tie claimed to be, divine : his religion is divine, the 
only religion which contains the indubitable proof, 
and presents to the world a real incarnation of di- 
vinity — Grod in man. 



PART YI. 

THE ARGUMENT FEOM HIS CHARACTER TO HIS 
DIVINITY. 

Moral Aspects and outward Eacts of Christ's History. — A Char- 
acter such as his not once realized. — Interests of Truth and 
Virtue. — ^l^Ioral Condition of Mankind charged on G-od. — Hu- 
manity in Christ peculiarly conditioned. — ^Idea of Incarnation 
universal. — ^A primitive Revelation.— A universal want. — Pro- 
vision for this "Want made once for all. — Higher Nature in 
Christ, not higher Office merely. — Absolute Divinity. — This se- 
cured Aids and Influences incommunicable to others. 

The spiritual individuality of Christ, we have 
found, is striking as it is manifest. Whether we 
look to his oneness with God. to the marvelous 
forms of his consciousness, to the totality of his 
manifestation, to the motive of his life, or to his 
unconquerable faith, his character, take it all in all, 
must be confessed to stand alone in the history of 
the world. But this character, in its unapproach- 
able grandeur, must be viewed in connection with 
the outward circumstances of the being in whonait 
was realized— in connection with a life not only 
unprivileged, but offering numerous positive hin- 
derances to the origination, the growth, and, most 



244 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

of all, tlie perfection of spiritual excellence. In a 
Jew of Kazareth— a young man — an uneducated 
meclianic — moral perfection was realized. Can this 
phenomenon be accounted for? There is here, 
without doubt, a manifestation of humanity ; but 
the question is, was this a manifestation of mere 
humanity, and no more? Can this be interpreted 
on the common principles, which in other cases ex- 
plain the facts of history, observation, and experi- 
ence ? It is not maintained, in any quarter worthy 
of regard, that ordinary principles of interpretation 
are sufficient here. But, if not, what are the ex- 
traordinary principles that are sufficient in this 
singular case ? 

This question is met by the suggestion that Jesus 
needed and received for the mission with which he 
was charged, extraordinary protection from God- 
protection for his intellect, his conscience, and his 
heart ; and not only protection, but extraordinary 
divine influence, in the illumination, invigoration, 
guidance, and entire culture of his spiritual nature. 
It is suggested that, by the holy power and under 
the sheltering care of God, his character was pre- 
served faultless, and rose to the highest perfection 
of which humanity is capable. Certainly, special 
powers are demanded for special functions, and it 
is fitting that unusual honors should attend unusual 
responsibilities. It is obvious, also, that God has a 
right to withhold or bestow his own gifts, and to 



HIS CHARACTER UNIQUE. 245 

bestow them on whom and in what measure he 
pleaseth. But the question arises, if Jesus was no 
more than man, why have there not been other 
men like him ? why has there not been one man 
like to him in the whole course of time? The 
question is unanswerable, we humbly maintain. If 
by the spiritual protection and influence of Grod, 
Jesus in his peculiar circumstances — with his youth, 
his want of education, his poverty, and all his hin- 
derances and exposures — ^reached moral perfection, 
it is unaccountable that, in far happier combinations 
of circumstances, such an attainment has never 
been approached. What God did for one man, 
God certainly could have done for other men. It 
is unaccountable that it has never been done, and 
that not a single individual known to history has 
risen to the glory of this youthful, untaught, un- 
privileged Galilean mechanic. The question here, 
it must be remembered, does not respect merely 
adaptation to an extraordinrry sphere ; it does not 
respect merely official qualifications and endow- 
ments ; it relates to personal excellence, to moral 
education and culture, to inward goodness ; and it 
is, therefore, vitally connected with the great cause 
of virtue and truth in the world. If Jesus was 
man only, and if, therefore, the invigorating and 
quickening influences of God bestowed on him, 
could have been bestowed on others, it is impossible 
without deep injury to the divine character, with- 



24z6 THE CHKIST OF HISTOEY. 

out impeacTiing either the benignity, or the pu- 
rity of G-od, to account for their being withheld in 
other cases. All is intelligible and consistent if 
Jesus y\ras essentially separate from men, separate 
in the very constitution of his person — a being 
raised up once in all time for a crisis which never 
could again arise, and for a work never to be re- 
peated. But if not, if he was man only, we ask in 
the name of that holiness which is the life of the 
intelligent universe, and in the name of God with 
whom the interests of holiness are paramount, how 
it has come to pass, that of all men Ae alone has risen 
to spiritual perfection? What God did for piety 
and virtue on the earth at one time and in one case, 
God certainly could have done at other times and 
in other cases. If Jesus was man only, God could 
have raised up, in successive ages, many such liv- 
ing examples of sanctified humanity as he was^ to 
correct, instruct, and quicken the world. But he 
did not ; and the guilt of the moral condition of 
mankind is thus charged at once upon God ; and 
the real cause of the continuance of moral evil, 
and of the limited success of holiness and truth in 
the earth is thus declared to b© in God — that cause 
is the withholding of his merciful influences. 

If such be the inevitable conclusion to which these 
premises lead, we have no alternative except to 
abandon them as false and impious. Jesus Ch"ist 
oan not have been merely man. No mere man, 



HIS CONSTITUTIOK. 247 

especially ■under the outward conditions that envi- 
roned him— not the most venerable and gifted 
sage, in circumstances incomparably more favorable 
than his — ever rose to his moral stature ; and ur ■ 
less all analogy and the unbroken testimony of a 
history are to be set aside, we must believe f 
Jesus was not merely man. It is morally impo. 
ble that the spiritual perfection of his character 
can have been owing to divine influences, which 
could have been bestowed as well on. others as on 
him. If they could have been bestowed, we can 
not doubt, looking to the benignant and holy char- 
acter of Grod, that they must have been bestowed. 
Since they were not bestowed on others, but only 
on him, there must have been something in him 
some real and great difference to account for the 
fact, something which rendered that possible to him 
which was not possible to any other. Between him 
and all men there must have been a separation — 
though there was also as certainly a community — 
of nature ; a separation not incidental and relative 
only, but constitutional and organic. Humanity in 
him must have existed under conditions, essentially 
distinct from those which belong to . the universal 
humanity of the world. Incarnation, but incarnation 
alone, helps us to the solution of the overwhelming 
difficulties of this case. It is perceived at once that 
this involved access to God, and reception from 
him — involved illumination, protection, guidance, 



248 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

and power absolutely and necessarily incommumca* 
hh to all others. Man, Jesus certainly was, but not 
man merely, but Grod in man. 

We can not hope to discover, in the religions of 
mankind, the method of solving the deepest problem 
of Christianity, but it is quite possible that they may 
illustrate, perhaps confirm, the only satisfactory so- 
lution which has yet been suggested. In these re- 
ligions, almost without exception, the idea of incar- 
nation will be found under one form or another. It 
is related that Paul and Barnabas in the city of 
Lystra were about to receive divine honors ; Bar- 
nabas was to be worshiped as an incarnation of 
Jupiter, and Paul as an incarnation of Mercury. 
The people of Lycaonia cried, " The gods have 
come down to us in the likeness of men." ' The 
noticeable fact is, that this was not a new and 
strange thought to them, but one apparently famil- 
iar, and generally received, and which, therefore, at 
once occurred to them as affording an easy inter- 
pretation of what they had seen and heard in con- 
nection with the two foreigners. The numberless 
metamorphoses of the gods of ancient Greece and 
Home, and in the eastern world the incarnations of 
Brahm, the avatars of Vishnu, and the human form 
of Kreeshna, and its reappearance in successive 
ages, are significant and demonstrative on this sub- 
ject. Among almost all nations, and from the 

1 Acts, xiv. 1. 



IDEA OF INCARNATION UNITERSAL. 249 

earliest period of whicli any authentic record has 
been preserved, down to our own times, tlie idea of 
Grod incarnating himself is found. But mankind 
do not universally^ and for successive ages adopt that 
which is wholly false. On the most philosophical 
grounds it may be argued, that the continued and 
wide acceptance of the notion of incarnation in the 
world is decisive proof that it must have some basis 
of truth. The idea, indeed, if admitted by men at 
all, was manifestly for conscience and reason, in 
their most reverent and subdued exercise, and not 
for imagination. It was too awfully sacred for 
imagination, even in its most chastened move- 
ments, to have approached. But imagination un- 
chastened, irreverent, impure, coarse, and wild, 
dared to violate this sanctity. The result we be- 
hold in the contradictions, absurdities, blasphemies, 
and offenses against all faith and all religious feel- 
ing and taste, of which the world is full. But in 
spite of the humihating and revolting facts of this 
kind which abound, it may be argued incontrovert- 
ibly, that the idea itself of incarnation must, from 
its universality, have some basis of truth. One of 
two things, or both, may be legitimately presumed. 
Either this idea is the traditionarj^ vestige of some 
primitive revelation, or there must be some grand 
necessity of universal human nature which, it is 
felt, can be met only by the doctrine of incarnation 
in one form or other. The deep sense of such a 
11* 



250 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

necessity, all nations and all times have proclaimed* 
And does not Christianity reveal the only actual 
provision which has been made to meet this uni- 
versal want? It was a promise in the beginning, 
it was a hope and a faith in successive ages, and in 
the fullness of the times the promise was fulfilled, the 
faith and the hope were realized. Once for all, a 
response worthy of God was given to the cry of 
humanity ; once for all, to meet a grand necessity, 
to achieve what no otherwise could have been 
achieved, for the redemption of man, Grod incar- 
nated himself The union of divinity with human- 
ity is the only principle which harmonizes the 
outward facts and the moral aspects of the life of 
Jesus Christ. Disgusted by the absurdities, and 
shocked by the impurities and impieties of mytho- 
logical incarnations, conscience and reason find rest 
in one incarnation for all time. 

In the New Testament this awful doctrine stands 
apart from all the additions which the fancy, or fol- 
ly, or corrupt taste of men have in other cases in- 
troduced. Here is not a baseless invention, but a 
thing for which numerous and extraordinary proofs 
can be advanced. This also, instead of creating 
perplexity, which had not otherwise existed, relieves 
and removes perplexity, the existence of which is 
indubitable, and the removal of which by other 
means is impossible. What is still more, this is 
not gratuitous mystery, the only purpose of which 



A PEOFOUND MYSTERY. 251 

is to embellisli or hallow a system. It is not a 
grand and useless dogma, but a necessity, in order 
to the solution of facts profoundly interesting, and 
all-important — a necessity, to whicli both the course 
of history, and the laws and experiences of the 
human mind compel us to bow. 

The mystery of incarnation, notwithstanding the 
considerations which have been advanced, remains 
as dark as ever. The union of divinity with hu- 
manity in the person of Jesus Christ, we can not 
explain, can not comprehend ; but that such union 
existed, we must believe, because it rests on evi- 
dence which can not be set aside ; and some, at 
least, of the consequences that follow from the mys- 
terious fact are perfectly intelligible to us. It is 
clear, for example, as we have sought to prove, that 
incarnation is sufficient to create, and alone can 
create, that amount of difference between Jesus 
Christ and all men, which the facts of his history, 
otherwise irreconcilable, demand for their solution. 
Humanity in him, existing under conditions which 
are found nowhere else, we do not wonder at moral 
peculiarities which would otherwise be confound- 
ing. His spiritual perfection, inexplicable on every 
other principle, on this principle is intelligible and 
consistent. 

In the personal character of Christ, then, we 
have the evidence not only of a higher office^ but of 
a higher nature^ than ever belonged to man ; the 



252 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

evidence of an essential, constitutional separation 
from all men. 

In liim who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and 
separate from sinners ; in Jesus, the son of Mary, 
the words of the ancient oracle received their beau- 
tiful fulfillment: — " Unto us a child is born, unto 
us a son is given ; and the government shall be 
upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Ev- 
erlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." ^ 

^ Isaiah, ix. 6. 



CONCLUSION 



tncarnation of Jesus throws light on all the wonders of his his- 
tory. — Supernatural Bhth. — Resurrection and Ascension. — Hia 
Miracles. — Spiritual meaning. — Typical character. — Sophistry 
of Strauss. — Extraordinary tokens of Divinity demanded.— 
The Yoice of God. — World summoned to Hsten and beheve. 



The argument whicli it was proposed to con- 
struct, is completed. "We liave found, first, that 
the public ministry of Christ, and second, that his 
spiritual character is incapable of being reconciled, 
on any natural and known principles, with the 
outer conditions of his life. In the one case and 
in the other, and much more when the two are 
taken together, there is no escape from the conclu- 
sion, that the secret of harmony here is altogether 
preternatural, and is nothing less than the union of 
Divinity with humanity, in his sacred person. The 
argument, by means of which this conclusion is 
reached, we have sought to show is based on an 
ample, a relevant, and an impartial induction of 
facts.- 

The doctrine of Incarnation is simply true. It is 
the darkness Vut it is filso the glory o:^ the spirit- 



254 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

ual history of mankind. It is tlie central fact in tlie 
scheme of moral providence, its nnitj, harmony, 
and fountain of power. It is the realization of the 
highest purposes of God, the discovery of the depth 
of his wisdom, love, and might. "Great is the 
mystery of godliness, God manifest in flesh." ^ 
" The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us ; 
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only 
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'" 
" The Life was manifested, and we have seen it, 
and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal 
life which was with the Father and was manifested 
unto us." ^ 

Having reached this conclusion a flood of light is 
reflected back on the Christian records ; and many 
of their announcements, before scarcely credible, 
become luminous and consistent These records are 
separated at once and forever from all mythologies, 
whether of Egypt, India, Greece, or Eome. Their 
foundation is not fable, but fact — a fact, profound- 
ly mysterious, indeed, but also incomparably glo- 
rious. The combination of mystery and glory at 
the very basis, and on the very threshold of the 
Gospels, not only prepares the mind for all the 
peculiarities of their structure, but demands, and 
even necessitates, discoveries in harmony with this 
primal characteristic. 

If Jesus be the Incarnation of Divinity, it is no 

1 Tim, iii. 16. » John, i. 14. » 1 John, i. 2. 



HIS MIRACLES. 255 

longer hard to believe that both his entrance into 
the world and his departiire from it were super- 
natural. So far from being anomalous, this is al- 
together necessary and natural. Any thing else 
would not have been in keeping with the history. 
His virgin-mother is a beautiful and simple reality. 
It would have been incongruous, even offensive, 
had he not been thus phj^sically separated from all 
of human kind. His resurrection also, and his as- 
cension to heaven, are transparencies as pure as his 
miraculous birth. It was most meet that, having 
lain in the grave and " tasted death for every man," 
he should rise again and pass into the skies. Thus 
has he becone a glorious prophecy and type of the 
destiny of all good, which, though struggling hard 
with evil, and often seemingly overborne, shall ul- 
timately exhibit and assert its indestructible vital- 
ity—a prophecy and type of tlie destiny of all the 
good, who, though despised, persecuted, and slain, 
shall rise again unhurt, emancipated and glorified, 
to immortal life. 

Again, such an entrance into the world, and such 
a departure from it, could comport only with a life- 
course full of testimonies and tokeos of Divinity. 
The miracles of Jesus are in strict harmony with 
the commencement and the close of his career, and, 
like them, have their ground in the unexampled 
constitution of his personality. They are indeed 
essential to that mysterious existence of his, in 



256 THE CHEIST OF HISTORY. 

wMch botli liumaii and Divine perfections liad 
tlieir place. Without them, the beautiful propor- 
tions of a unique biography, the undesigned but 
very manifest symmetry of a Divine life on earth, 
would be destroyed. Nor must the character of the 
miracles of Jesus be overlooked. With him they 
were chiefly a method of teaching. Every one of 
them contained a wide and deep spiritual meaning ; 
and the whole together were an exposition, in a 
most intelligible and impressive form, of the nature 
and design of his mission. They were not mere 
signs of power, but lessons of wisdom and acts of 
mercy; they were not simply attestations of a 
Divine Presence, but subduing expressions and ex- 
positions of the Divine character. The bountiful 
and loving God, in the form of man, came to bless 
the world ; the incarnate one — then how truly god- 
like — ^is seen giving bread to the poor, sight to the 
blind, health to the diseased, life to the dead! 
And how significant, how eloquent, were these ma- 
terial types of his higher spiritual powers and gifts. 
He was the bread of life to the world, he came to 
do for the soul what he thus did for the body ; 
came to supply spiritual wants as he had supplied 
natural wants, to provide a remedy for spiritual 
evils as he had cured physical evils ; came to abol- 
ish death, to put away sin, and to reveal and be- 
stow eternal life ! Literally and spiritually alike, 
he could apply to himself the words of the ancient 



SOPHISTRY OF STRAUSS. 257 

oracle — " The Spirit of tlie Lord God is upon me, be- 
cause the Lord hath annointed me to preach good 
tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to bind up 
the broken-hearted, to proclaim hbertj to the cap- 
tives, and the opening of the prison doors to them 
that are bound." ^ 

Strauss, in one of his minor pieces, a^rgues against 
the value of miracles in some such manner as 
this (without quoting the express words, we give 
the spirit of his argument) : — " Jesus is said on one 
occasion to have fed five thousand persons miracu- 
lously ; but God, every day, supplies the wants of 
unnumbered myriads. Jesus is said to have given 
sight to the blind and even life to the dead ; but 
sensation and vitality are the daily gifts of God to 
the world in cases past all reckoning. Which is 
the greater wonder ? and what wisdom can there be 
in placing a lesser miracle before those who will 
not be moved by the greater miracle?" We admit 
the principle and maintain it against him. His ar- 
gument is a palpable, we are tempted to say a paltry 
and wicked, because hndwn^ sophism. The ques- 
tion is not, whether the laws of nature and their 
constant operation be or be not more truly wonder- 
ful than any special departure from them ; the 
question is not whether there be or be not really 
more of God, in the one than in the other. But 
the question is this, whether, as a matter of simple 
» Isaiah, Ixi. 1. 



258 THE CHKIST OF HISTORY. 

fact; men are or are not more impressed by tlie or- 
dinary operation of natural laws, than by a sudden 
deviation from it. To tbis question, all experience, 
all observation, and all history return a decisive 
reply. Men who never recognize God in bis univer- 
sal and constant agency witbin and around tbem, 
are immediately arrested and forced to admit tbe 
tbougbt tbat tbere is a Grod, even by a seeming, 
and still more by a real and startling, deviation 
fi'om tbe course of nature. 

We return to the position, tbat, since Jesus was 
verily an Incarnation of tbe Godhead, miraculous 
works in his life were only becoming and natural. 
This does not in tbe least exclude tbe application 
of the severest criticism, to the historical accounts 
of tbe Christian miracles. But the unbroken course 
of nature, in tbe presence of a fact so stupendous as 
Incarnation, bad been of all things unnatuarl and 
incredible. The Divinity witbin Jesus must have 
flashed forth through many outlets; and, on the 
other hand, tbe world could not but thrill respons- 
ively, when it felt tbe very touch of God. Neces- 
sarily, tbere must have been at such a time extra- 
ordinary appearances and movements. It was only 
reasonable, indeed inevitable, that an age in which 
tbe profoundest mystery of all time was unvailed, 
and in which Divine religion was to reach its full 
development, should be distinguished by unwonted 
signs from heaven. It was only reasonable, indeed 



A VOICE FROM GOD. 269 

inevitable, tliat such an age should be pre-eminently 
creative, as of new powers, so of novel and aston- 
ishing facts ; and that there should be an almighty 
influence among men, not invisible and mental 
only, but palpable, and embodied in material forms. 
Still further, is it not plain that a mystery so inscru- 
table as Incarnation, and a religion based on this 
mystery, and claiming to be alone Divine, a religion 
which professed to rise to the grandest truths of 
God, and to pierce to the deepest secrets of the 
human bosom — both needed the fullest confirma- 
tion, and merited the glory of supernatural signs ? 
The world, so often deceived by counterfeits of 
Divinity, was entitled to have the amplest assurance 
given to it, that at last, in very deed, God had de- 
scended upon it. The world in the midst of its 
corruptions, its false religions, and its darkness, 
needed extraordinary means for awakening and 
sustaining its attention, for arousing its slumbering 
intellect, and summoning its torpid conscience to 
life and power. At such a crisis, it was meet, it was 
indispensable, that the hand of God should be made 
bare, and that the voice of God should be uttered, as 
it had never been before. 

In nature, its scenery, processes, productions, and 
very silence, God speaks to his rational offspring, 
and speaks intelligibly and impressively. In spirit- 
ual providence, its operations, ordinary and extra- 
ordinary, its history and its laws, God speaks. In 



i s ^ t 

260 THE CHRIST OF HISTORY. 

man, the products of his intellect, his imagination 
and his taste, in the achievements of science and 
art, in the creations of human genius, and in all 
the utterances of human wisdom and piety, God 
speaks ! 

But once, only once, in all time, the Godhead 
tabernacled in flesh, and from within this marvel- 
ous vail gave forth its holy and grand announce- 
ments. The first, the lowest, but yet also the last 
and highest, duty of the world, is to listen and be- 
lieve. The command to all ages and to all men is, 
listen and believe. That command was given of old 
in Palestine, from the opened sky, beneath which 
Jesus of ISTazareth stood: — " 'This is my beloved Son^ 
hear ye himy 



1- 



THE END. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: July 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



